No More Drivers Needed, Uber Launches Autonomous Food Delivery Vehicles In California

JAKARTA - Uber Technologies Inc announced Monday, May 16 that it has launche pilot food delivery services with autonomous vehicles in two California cities. It also said it would add electric vehicle charging stations to its global driver app.

The announcement is part of Uber's annual product event where the travel and food delivery company showcases the latest updates to its app.

Uber announced one food delivery service using autonomous cars, and a separate pilot using sidewalk robots. Both services are available to Uber Eats users in Santa Monica and West Hollywood in California, and consumers will have the ability to opt out of the program.

The autonomous car pilot teamed up with Motion, the self-driving joint venture of Hyundai Motor Co and Aptiv PLC, and was initially announced in December. "It launched on Monday," Uber and Motion said, as quoted by Reuters.

Uber said the sidewalk robots were provided by Serve Robotics, a spin-off of delivery company Postmates, which Uber acquired in 2020.

“Vehicles on both services are actively monitored by human operators,” Uber said, adding that “it will take some time before this technology is put into operation on a large scale.”

Self-driving companies have repeatedly pushed the dead line to provide truly driverless travel on a large scale, with only a few limited autonomous programs available across the US.

Uber on Monday also said it would roll out a map of electric vehicle charging stations on its driver app in the US this summer, and then around the world. This is in an effort to promote drivers switching to battery-powered vehicles.

Uber, which aims to only have electric vehicles on its platform in the United States, Canada and Europe by 2030, says charging is one of the biggest barriers for drivers to switch to EVs.

The company also said it would launch an option this summer to charter party buses and passenger vans via its US app in collaboration with US charter service Coachways.