US online food-ordering and delivery platform Grubhub has announced a partnership with Russia’s Yandex Self-Driving Group as its robot delivery provider.
Grubhub operates across US college and university campuses. The agreement is Yandex’s first entry into the US delivery market.
Brian Madigan, vice president of corporate and campus partners at Grubhub says, “Together with Yandex, we’re changing the way college students experience food delivery. We’re excited to offer these cost-effective, scalable and quick food ordering and delivery capabilities to colleges and universities across the country that are looking to adapt to students’ unique dining needs. While college campuses are notoriously difficult for cars to navigate, specifically as it relates to food delivery, Yandex robots easily access parts of campuses that vehicles cannot — effectively removing a major hurdle universities face when implementing new technology.”
Dmitry Polishchuk, CEO of Yandex Self-Driving Group, adds, “We chose to partner with Grubhub for campus delivery because of Grubhub’s unparalleled reach into college campuses across the United States, as well as the flexibility and strength of their ordering platform. We are delighted to deploy dozens of our rovers, taking the next step in actively commercialising our self-driving technology in different markets across the globe.”
Yandex first began working on driverless technology in early 2017, combining its expertise in machine learning, navigation, mapping tools, and cloud technologies. It is also testing cars equipped with its technology in all weather conditions across three countries and operating robo-taxi services in two cities in Russia.
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