Two of the most prominent names in food delivery have partnered for an initiative poised to dramatically impact the industry and more than quadruple the size of the world’s largest autonomous delivery fleet.
Starship Technologies, a San Francisco-based autonomous delivery platform, announced Nov. 20 that it is teaming up with Uber Technologies, the world’s largest mobility and delivery platform, for an effort to deploy delivery robots across the globe.
The food delivery partnership will showcase visible progress before 2025 comes to a close, with autonomous robot deliveries hitting the sidewalks this month in Leeds, U.K, according to a press release. The Starship-Uber collaboration is set to expand to multiple European markets in 2026 and reach the U.S. by 2027.
Since the company’s founding in 2014, Starship has grown to operate the world’s largest autonomous delivery network, currently exceeding 2,700 robots with plans to scale beyond 12,000 autonomous couriers by 2027.
“Together, we’re building the infrastructure that will define the next generation of urban logistics,” Ahti Heinla, co-founder and CEO of Starship Technologies, said in a statement. “Uber Eats has built the world’s leading delivery platform, with the widest reach, trusted by millions across 10,000 cities. We bring scalable autonomous technology that works profitably at city scale.”
Starship reported having addressed challenges such as safety validation, regulatory approval across seven countries, reliability in various weather conditions and profitability at scale. The company’s fleet has already completed upwards of nine million deliveries at more than 270 locations.
“Autonomous delivery is an exciting part of how we see the future of Uber Eats,” Sarfraz Maredia, Uber’s global head of autonomous mobility and delivery, said in a statement. “Together with Starship, we’re bringing this future to life across multiple continents, leveraging Uber’s global scale and Starship’s proven autonomy to deliver efficient and affordable experiences for consumers and merchants everywhere.”
The Nov. 20 partnership announcement followed a successful month of fundraising in October for Starship, more than $50 million, bringing total funding above $280 million.
