Uber Eats, Mitsubishi to Launch Delivery Service in Japan

Uber is launching a robot delivery service in Japan, alongside Mitsubishi Electric and autonomous robotics startup Cartken.

The service, which will be offered through the UberEats app, will be made available in certain areas of Tokyo by the end of March.

Cartken will be providing its autonomous sidewalk robot, Model C, for the service. The wheeled robot uses AI and computer vision to navigate through a city, and object detection to avoid any collisions. It also has remote control capabilities, allowing human workers to monitor the robots’ journey and take over in case of emergencies.

Operations will be supervised by Mitsubishi Electric.

“We hope that this newly announced initiative will serve as a catalyst for the spread of robot delivery services in Japan,” said Shoji Tanaka, senior general manager of Mitsubishi Electric’s advanced application development center. “In the future, we will work with buildings and factory infrastructure, which is one of our strengths, so autonomous robots will be able to deliver inside various facilities.”

Uber and Cartken already have a delivery service together in Fairfax, Virginia and Miami. The latest partnership marks the companies’ first venture outside of the U.S.

“We are thrilled to announce our partnership with Mitsubishi Electric and Cartken in Japan,” said Shintaro Nakagawa, general manager of Uber Eats Japan. “UberEats already offers delivery by bicycle, motorcycle, light cargo, and on foot here in Tokyo, and now we are adding a completely new delivery method: robot.”

Related:Uber Eats, Serve Robotics Expanding Sidewalk Deliveries

Uber Eats previously partnered with robotics companies including Serve Robotics and Motional to pilot autonomous deliveries in other U.S. cities.