Self-driving robots will begin delivering food in the Miami area.
Uber and Cartken, a robotics company, announced their partnership on Thursday.
The companies say they are working with merchants in Dadeland to provide on-demand deliveries with their sidewalk delivery robots.
“We are excited about how this partnership with Uber will bring the advantages of robotics to food delivery—and ultimately create more connected communities,” said Christian Bersch, co-founder and CEO at Cartken. “Together, we have the opportunity to reduce traffic congestion, help local merchants to increase delivery capacity, and bring consumers fast, convenient, and emission-free deliveries.”
After a successful rollout in the Miami area this year, Uber plans to expand the service to other cities across the country in 2023.
This isn't the first major partnership for Cartken, a Silicon Valley startup. It's also partnered with GrubHub for robot deliveries on college campuses.
The University of Arizona said students could use their meal plans for the deliveries.
“They are programmed and required to take the path of least resistance, and have a 360-degree camera, so if they see you near them, they are going to slow down and/or stop depending on how close you are," said Mari John, assistant director of retail development, contract management and corporate sponsorship for Arizona Student Unions.
The partnership with GrubHub began on the university campus in the fall of 2021, using robotics technology by by Yandex Self-Driving Group, a Russian multinational corporation. The delivery program was put on pause March 3 of this year.
"Arizona Student Unions and Arizona Dining stands in support of the recent decision GrubHub made to end their partnership with Yandex. Yandex, a Russian multinational corporation, was the hardware provider for Arizona Dining’s robot courier delivery service recently launched on campus," said Todd Millay, executive director of Arizona Student Unions.
"As of March 3, 2022, Yandex robots will no longer operate on the University of Arizona campus. Students and staff can continue to utilize GruHub pickup and delivery services as usual, and human couriers will fulfill GrubHub delivery orders until a new robot courier delivery solution is in place,” Millay said earlier this year.
According to a report by the Arizona Daily Wildcat, the GrubHub deliveries resumed this fall semester using the Cartken delivery robots.
The robots are also delivering meals on the campus of Ohio State University.
