Austin, Texas, is known for many things: great music, tasty barbecue, bats under bridges. And soon, Uber Eats meals delivered by sidewalk robots.
Uber and Austin-based robot and autonomous vehicle manufacturer Avride announced a multiyear partnership for delivery robots to hit streets in a few weeks. They have plans to expand to Dallas and Jersey City later in the year and more cities in 2025.
Avride had previously shared with Food On Demand that it was working with a handful of Austin restaurants. And since Uber Eats has already shown a comfort with sidewalks in a similar partnership with Serve Robotics in Los Angeles, this union only made sense.
The two companies are starting with sidewalk robots but are also planning to offer meal delivery with autonomous driving in Dallas in 2025 for qualifying orders. Consumers will be given the delivery option when they make an order.
“We are excited to partner with Uber as we scale our operations,” said Dmitry Polishchuk, CEO of Avride, in a statement. “We plan to expand the total fleet of Avride robots operating within Uber Eats to hundreds in 2025.”
“Autonomous mobility and delivery hold a ton of promise for consumers and communities,” said Dara Khosrowshani, CEO of Uber.
