Uber is expanding its Phoenix-based partnership with autonomous vehicle company Waymo.
The company announced Wednesday (April 3) that it is now offering Uber Eats deliveries in the Arizona capital via Waymo vehicles.
“Starting today in Phoenix, Uber Eats consumers in Tempe, Mesa, and Chandler may have their orders delivered by an autonomous vehicle,” Uber said in a news release. “Uber and Waymo are working with select merchants in the area, including local favorites like Princess Pita, Filiberto’s, and BoSa Donuts.”
When placing an order in Phoenix where the service is available, users will see a prompt in the Uber Eats app that says, “Autonomous vehicles may deliver your order.” Customers will also get the chance to opt out at checkout if they would rather have items delivered by a courier.
“When the autonomous vehicle arrives, you’ll receive an in-app notification to take your phone with you to unlock the vehicle and collect your items,” the release said.
Uber and Waymo first announced their partnership in Phoenix last year, offering fully autonomous rides to customers there. At the time, the companies noted Waymo’s operations account for the largest fully autonomous service area in the world at 180 square miles.
The two companies also have a partnership that brings together Waymo’s self-driving truck unit and Uber’s Freight business.
Last month, Amazon-owned autonomous car company Zoox expanded the area in which its robotaxis are operating, while also announcing that its vehicles were operating at faster speeds, in light rain and at night.
“Deploying our robotaxi in a larger geofence is a big milestone for Zoox,” the company said in the update. “Operating autonomously at higher speeds, with required lane changes, in light rain, and at night are key achievements too — they’re complex scenarios that are required to operate our service.”
Zoox first commenced operating its driverless vehicles on public roads in 2023, in Foster City, California, and Las Vegas and has since begun testing them in preparation for a planned commercial launch.
With this most recent update, the firm has expanded the boundary within which it operates the vehicles in Las Vegas into a larger, five-mile radius of the company’s headquarters.
“Driving in these larger areas exposes our robotaxis to the busiest conditions they’ve ever encountered and provides invaluable data and learnings as we continue to scale,” Zoox said.
Link: https://www.pymnts.com/news/delivery/2024/uber-eats-and-waymo-roll-out-autonomous-delivery-in-phoenix/
Source: https://www.pymnts.com