Waymo is expanding with Uber to bring Autonomous AI food delivery

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Now you can get your take-out food delivered to your home by robot.

Waymo and Uber Eats are partnering to begin food delivery by autonomous vehicles, which leaders of the companies hope will give more people a chance to interact with an autonomous vehicle.

Waymo and Uber have already partnered on the rideshare platform, Uber customers can get paired with an autonomous vehicle for a ride if they are in Waymo’s Phoenix service area.

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Beginning Wednesday, select restaurants on the Uber Eats platform in Tempe, Mesa and Chandler will offer customers the option to have their orders delivered in an autonomous Waymo vehicle. Restaurants that are participating in the launch include Princess Pita, Filiberto's and Bosa Donuts, but representatives from Uber and Waymo said the list will grow as more restaurants are added to the program.
The program is starting with a small group of restaurants, but Uber officials said they expect the list to be over 10 restaurants in the next few weeks.

Noah Zych, global head of autonomous mobility and delivery for Uber, said the first restaurants were chosen because they would be a good fit, with many deliveries within the Waymo service area. Both the restaurant and the delivery location must be in the Waymo service area for the delivery to be done by an autonomous vehicle.

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Customers will be able to opt out of having an autonomous vehicle deliver their food. Zych said he expects customers might make that decision on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes they want the convenience of the food being delivered straight to their doorstep, and sometimes they won’t mind getting the food from the vehicle.

If a customer places a tip for the driver before the order is complete, and the order is then paired with an autonomous vehicle, the tip will not be charged, he said.

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