Uber Eats set to start driverless food deliveries in California & Texas this Fall

The meal delivery service Uber Eats announced Thursday that it has signed a 10-year partnership with Nuro, a manufacturer of driverless cars, to conduct pilot projects for autonomous food deliveries in two locations, California and Texas. It's the next step toward fully autonomous vehicles as businesses abandon traditional methods.

The announcement comes four months after Uber launched a test with Motional and Serve Robotics for autonomous vehicles and sidewalk delivery machines in Los Angeles.

These self-driving electric vehicles have been gaining popularity over the past few years. Both Lyft and Uber have announced intentions to introduce autonomous vehicles (called "robotaxis") sometime in the next year, while Uber has stated its intention to transition to electric vehicles only by 2030.

In comparison to a standard sedan, the Nuro automobiles are 20% more compact. They can go at 45 mph on city streets, have storage for 24 grocery bags, and include a huge airbag in the front that resembles a mattress.

The R2 model from Nuro received the first regulatory exemption for an autonomous car from the Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in February of 2020. In January, they unveiled their R3 model. now all that’s left is for us to sit back and see what the future has in store for us.