Uber has announced an extension of their partnership with autonomous vehicle tech company Waymo commencing autonomous Uber Eats food deliveries in the state of Phoenix.
Uber Eats orders may be matched with a Waymo vehicles and have their meals delivered by a fully autonomous Waymo vehicle within 225+ square mile of the Metro Phoenix service area.
In a statement Waymo labelled Metro Phoenix as “the world’s largest autonomous vehicle service area” and stated that they will begin this food delivery project by working with merchants in Chandler, Tempe and Mesa, including local favorites like Princess Pita, Filiberto’s, and Bosa Donuts.
To receive an Uber Eats order from a Waymo autonomous vehicle, users in the Phoenix service area will be given an in-app prompt stating “autonomous vehicles may deliver your order” which is given an ‘opt-out’ opportunity during order checkout.
Users will be notified if their delivery vehicle is a Waymo fully autonomous, under which circumstances they will be instructed to to take their phone with them to open the vehicle’s trunk and collect their items when the vehicle arrives.
