Uber to Offer Even More Self-Driving Taxis, Delivery Robots

Uber has sealed yet another deal with an autonomous vehicle (AV) company.

The ride-hailing giant has announced a number of partnerships with firms working in automated transportation over the past few months, and the latest is with Avride, the Texas based start-up that essentially started life as the Yandex Self-Driving Group in Russia in 2017.

Its parent company pulled the plug on Yandex when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and the Self-Driving Group was sold. Now it is part of the Netherlands-based Nebius Group, and has been rebranded as Avride.

Under the terms of the new multi-year strategic partnership, Avride’s delivery bots will be used on the Uber Eats platform, while its AVs will be made available on the Uber ride-hailing app.

The arrangement will kick off within weeks in Austin, where sidewalk delivery robots will fulfil food orders placed via Uber Eats.

After launching in the Texas city, the service will be rolled out later this year in Dallas and also Jersey City, New Jersey.

Avride’s bots are 2.8 feet long and use lidar, cameras, ultrasonic sensors and a compute unit for automated movement. They can run for up to 12 hours on a single charge in extreme conditions, and are already being used in Austin, as well as South Korea. Carrying capacity is claimed to be six 16.5-inch pizzas and three 1.5-liter water bottles.

Related:New Self-Driving Taxis, Bots Testing in Austin

When ordering on the Uber Eats app, customers will be presented with the option to have their delivery made by an Avride bot, if available, and they can either accept or decline. If they decline, delivery will be made by conventional methods.

Avride’s Hyundai IONIQ 5 self-driving taxis will come online on Uber in Dallas next year, and as with the food deliveries, if one of the AVs is available, riders will be given the choice of accepting. If they opt not to do so, they will be sent a human driven cab.

The IONIQ 5s use lidar and radar, plus intelligent navigation, 3D mapping and a high-grade compute to deliver automated functionality, and are currently being tested on public roads in Austin.

“We are excited to partner with Uber as we scale our operations and work together to further improve the delivery experience for both consumers and merchants,” said Dmitry Polishchuk, Avride CEO. 

“We plan to expand the total fleet of Avride robots operating within Uber Eats to hundreds in 2025, followed by the launch of our robotaxi service.”

Confirmation of the partnership continues a prolific run of deals sealed by Uber this year as it accelerates the roll-out of automated options on its platforms.

Earlier this month it announced it would offer self-driving taxis from Chinese company WeRide in the United Arab Emirates, while in the U.S. its has announced plans to use Waymo robotaxis in Atlanta and Austin next year, and also cabs from General Motors’ AV subsidiary, Cruise.

Longer term, it confirmed it was working with Chinese giant BYD to develop self-driving taxis for the platform, plus it is also teaming up with U.K.-based Wayve to develop its AI solutions for vehicles.