Uber Eats, Cartken bring robot delivery to Miami

Is the U.S. finally ready for the next phase of last-mile delivery?

According to a new survey from software firm Circuit, 9 in 10 Americans have decided they’re ready to trust autonomous delivery robots, a far cry from 2018, when just 57% of Americans even knew they existed.

Per the same report, Uber (NYSE: UBER) platform Uber Eats was ranked among the three most trusted companies when it comes to autonomous food delivery. And this week, it launched its third such service since the spring.

On Thursday, Uber Eats and self-driving vehicle maker Cartken launched a robot delivery service in Florida’s Dadeland area of Miami-Dade County, with plans to expand to additional cities in 2023.

The partnership builds on Uber Eats’ collaborations with Motional, Serve Robotics and Nuro, through which it operates autonomous delivery services in Santa Monica and Los Angeles, California, and Houston, respectively.

And for Cartken, which was founded in Oakland, California, in 2019, it’s the first formal partnership with an on-demand delivery app outside of college campuses.

“Miami is a thriving Uber Eats market and we are excited to bring its residents a little more Uber magic through sidewalk robot delivery,” said Noah Zych, global head of autonomous mobility and delivery at Uber. “Our partnership with Cartken marks another important milestone for our efforts in automated and autonomous technology and will provide greater reliability and affordability to Miami merchants and consumers.”

Cartken’s Model C delivery robot is optimized for food and grocery deliveries within neighborhoods and college campuses. It drives autonomously along sidewalks and pathways, similar to bots from Motional and Serve, and can even operate indoors. 

A remote monitoring system allows operators to observe the bots along their routes and step in as needed, and an array of cameras and sensors can help them navigate past obstacles on their own.

Watch: More Providers Offering Robotics as a Service

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But the thing that sets Cartken apart is its robots-as-a-service model, in which customers pay as they go rather than signing long-term contracts. That brings down the upfront costs of implementing the technology and makes it easier for companies to see if it works for them.

Increasingly, platforms like Uber Eats have been doing just that, piloting small services in individual cities to see what will stick. The hope is that the robots’ ability to speed delivery times and reduce emissions will make them attractive to both merchants and customers.

“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 of 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.”

As it stands, it’s too early to tell just how successful (or unsuccessful) Uber Eats’ pilots have been. But there will be plenty of time to find out — Uber is an investor in Serve and has a 10-year deal with Nuro, so it’s more than likely that more pilots are on the horizon.

Click for more Modern Shipper articles by Jack Daleo.

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Editor: Jack Daleo