Your favorite takeaway could soon be delivered by self-driving cars as testing is rolled out in Phoenix on Uber Eats for fully autonomous food delivery.
Over a year ago, Waymo and Uber formed a multi-year strategy partnership to make the Waymo Driver available to more people via the Uber platform.
As of April 3, this has now been made into a possibility with the fully autonomous car being able to deliver within a 225+ square mile radius in the Metro Phoenix area.
The car company, which was formerly known as the Google Self-Driving Car Project, describes itself as having created ‘the world’s most experienced driver.’ One that ‘never gets drunk, tired, or distracted.’
This new form of delivery won’t be as easy as simply opening the door to your burrito in the hand of a delivery worker though, as you’ll have to go outside when the car arrives and follow the instructions to collect your order.
While it’s pot-luck who sees a human and who doesn’t, you can opt out of the use of an autonomous vehicle if you’d prefer – instead selecting the option for delivery by a human courier.
This comes just seven months after the partnership rolled out ride-hailing capabilities through Uber. Residents in Phoenix have been able to request a self-driving lift, with no human driver behind the wheel.
At the time of the formal announcement, more than 10,000 rides were completed each week using this method.
Are other companies focusing on driverless cars?
In the modern world, new technology seems to be coming out every other month which has left many companies feeling the heat and the need to advance in the technological race.
While Waymo and Uber are cooking up advancements in their partnership, Apple’s plans for self-driving cars have been scrapped.
Just this month, it was found that more than 600 jobs will be axed following the abandonment of these plans.
The cuts will mostly impact workers at the iPhone maker’s site in California where it was discreetly working on ambitions to build electric vehicles. 614 members of staff are expected to be laid off in May.
Others are turning their attention to flying abilities, with a SpaceX-backed firm, named Alef Aeronautics, seeing nearly 3,000 pre-orders for its two-seater ‘car’ back in March. The plan is for the production of the first vehicle to be completed by the end of 2025.
Featured Image: Via the Waymo press release
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