Uber announced on Monday that it has launched a pilot self-driving food delivery service in two California cities and will list electric vehicle charging stations on its global driver app.
The ads are part of Uber’s annual product event, where the company demonstrates the latest updates to its app.
Uber announced the food delivery service using self-driving cars and a separate driver that uses robots to navigate sidewalks. Both services are available to Uber Eats users in Santa Monica and West Hollywood, California.
The self-driving car program is being carried out in collaboration with Motional, the self-driving technology joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv, initially announced in December and launched on Monday, Uber and Motional said.
Uber said the sidewalk-walking robots are 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 be some time before this technology can be operated at scale.”
Uber also said it will release a map of electric vehicle charging stations on its app for drivers in the United States by mid-year. The service will expand to other parts of the world in the coming months.
The company also announced that it will launch an option for chartering buses and passenger vans by mid-year through its US app in collaboration with the US Coachways service.
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