The announcements are part of Uber's annual product event
where the ride-hail and food delivery company showcases the latest updates to
its app.
Uber announced one food delivery service using autonomous
cars, and a separate pilot using sidewalk robots. Both services are available
to Uber Eats users in Santa Monica and West Hollywood in California, and
consumers will have the ability to opt out of the programme.
The autonomous car pilot is in collaboration with Motional,
the self-driving joint venture of Hyundai Motor and Aptiv PLC, and was
initially announced in December. It launched on Monday, Uber and Motional said.
Uber said the sidewalk robots are provided by Serve
Robotics, a spin-off of delivery company Postmates, which Uber acquired in
2020.
The vehicles in both services are actively monitored by
human operators, Uber said, adding that "it will be some time before this
technology is operated at scale."
Self-driving companies have repeatedly pushed out timelines
to provide truly driverless trips at scale, with only a few limited fully
autonomous programme available across the US.
Uber on Monday also said it was launching a map of electric
vehicle charging stations in its driver app in the US this summer, and later
worldwide, in an effort to promote drivers switching to a battery-powered
vehicle.
Uber, which aims to have only electric vehicles on its
platform in the United States, Canada and Europe by 2030, said charging was one
of drivers' biggest obstacles to switching to EVs.
The company also said it was launching an option this summer
to rent party and coach buses, and passenger vans through its US app in
collaboration with rental service US Coachways. © Reuters
0 comments:
Post a Comment