Uber Eats and Cartken partner to offer sidewalk robot deliveries

Uber Technologies, and Cartken, a delivery robots company, have formed a new partnership for food deliveries via automated robots in Miami, Florida. Uber Eats consumers in Miami will have the opportunity to have orders delivered by Cartken’s self-driving robot.

Starting today, Uber and Cartken will begin operating with select merchants in the Dadeland area of Miami-Dade County with plans to expand in Miami-Dade and to additional cities in 2023.

Cartken’s AI-powered sidewalk delivery robots currently are used for neighborhood food and grocery delivery, campus meal delivery and curbside pickup across the country. Uber Eats will be its first formal partnership with a global on-demand delivery app beyond college campuses.

Christian Bersch, co-founder and CEO at Cartken, says: “We are excited about how this partnership with Uber will bring the advantages of robotics to food delivery – and ultimately create more connected communities.

“Together, we have the opportunity to reduce traffic congestion, help local merchants to increase delivery capacity, and bring consumers fast, convenient, and emission-free deliveries.”

Uber’s partnership with Cartken is an expansion of the company’s efforts to use automated and autonomous technology to unlock greater innovation for consumers and merchant partners in Miami and beyond.

Noah Zych, global head of autonomous mobility and delivery at Uber, says: “Miami is a thriving Uber Eats market and we are excited to bring its residents a little more Uber magic through sidewalk robot delivery.

“Our partnership with Cartken marks another important milestone for our efforts in automated and autonomous technology and will provide greater reliability and affordability to Miami merchants and consumers.”

Uber Eats delivers instant access to local commerce, helping people across the world discover restaurants and merchants, order meals, groceries, alcohol, and more at the touch of a button – and get it delivered reliably and quickly.

The business leverages Uber’s technology and logistics expertise to partner with 870,000 merchants in 11,000+ cities globally.