Uber Eats is embarking on autonomous delivery, at least on trial, according to a communicated December 16. To carry out this experiment, a partnership was established with Motional, a joint venture created by Hyundai and Aptiv. Uber sold its autonomous driving arm, Advanced Technologies Group to Aurora, in December 2020.
Little detail on the test
Uber and Motional were stingy in detail on this test scheduled for 2022, without further clarification. It will be conducted in Santa Monica, California, where a number of Motional offices are located. Not all restaurants in the city will obviously be affected. Their number was not indicated, nor the number of vehicles or traffic conditions.
United Airlines to buy 100 hydrogen electric motors
The model used to deliver Uber Eats orders will be a Hyundai IONIQ 5 electric Robotaxi from Motional, suitable for delivery. The latter specifies that it is a category 4 autonomous vehicle. According to the standard adopted by the industry, at this level of autonomy the vehicle does not require human intervention. An operator will nevertheless be present in the event of a problem.
The leaders of the two companies congratulated each other on the rigorous formulas for such a partnership. Karl Lagnemma, President and CEO of Motional, sees “ many long-term opportunities With Uber. The head of Uber Eats in North America, Sarfraz Maredia, notes a response to the expectations of his customers and business partners, “ convenience, reliability and innovation “.
A world without a driver or delivery man, the Uber dream
For Uber, autonomous driving appears to be an ideal way out to bypass a global movement to regulate the status of its drivers and delivery people. In California, the company is fighting so that they do not obtain employee status. This is also the case in the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium and soon at the level of the European Union. Without a driver or delivery person, more problems, the company probably hopes.