Uber Eats is working with Motional and sidewalk delivery platform Serve Robotics to bring autonomous delivery pilots in Los Angeles. The online food ordering and delivery platform announced the project in December 2021 and seems to have started trials already.

According to an Engadget piece, Uber Eats will start testing deliveries with some vendors like Kreation juicery and organic cafe. Planned routes will be split among its two partners with Serve covering West Hollywood and Motional taking care of Santa Monica deliveries.

Also read:
– Apple releases iOS 15.5 with new features and bug fixes
– Scientists grow plant on Moon soil for the first time ever
– US government warns companies against using AI recruitment tools.

While Uber will charge for deliveries done by Serve, it may not do so when it comes to Motional because the latter does not have a permit in California. It is vital to know that the deliveries will not be 100 per cent human-free as ‘operators’ will be at drop-off locations to monitor deliveries.

The goal of the pilot, according to an Uber spokesperson is information gathering. “We’ll be able to learn from both of those pilots what customers actually want, what merchants actually want and what makes sense for delivery,” TechCrunch reports.

For now, during the tests, customers can choose to have their delivery by an autonomous vehicle while tracking its journey. Then, when the food arrives, they will use a unique passcode to unlock the vehicle and collect their food; likely secured in Serve cooler container or the Motional vehicle’s backseat.

If the trials are successful, Uber Eats still has to figure out how to scale the autonomous delivery idea.

For your daily dose of tech, lifestyle, and trending content, make sure to follow Plat4om on Twitter @Plat4omLive, on Instagram @Plat4om, on LinkedIn at Plat4om, and on Facebook at Plat4om. You can also email us at info@techtalkwithtdafrica.com and join our channel on Telegram at Plat4om. Finally, don’t forget to subscribe to OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL.