Waymo Self-Driving Cars Deliver for Uber Eats

Waymo has teamed with Uber Eats for food deliveries in Phoenix.

The self-driving company, owned by Google parent Alphabet, is already well established in the Arizona city, where it has operated for a number of years, gradually increasing its presence to include Sky Harbor International Airport runs and driverless testing on highways.

Now its service will extend to home delivery of food orders in its converted Jaguar I-Pace SUVs, following the multi-year collaboration it announced with Uber last year.

Announced in October, that deal initially saw Waymo’s self-driving taxis made available through the Uber app across 225 square miles of Metro Phoenix, claimed by Waymo to be the world’s largest autonomous vehicle area. Now food deliveries are being added to the equation.

Uber Eats has already used self-driving transport to deliver in other locations – including in Santa Monica, Los Angeles and a robot service in Miami – but this will be the first time it has teamed up with Waymo.

Initially, at least, the service will be restricted to specific parts of the Metro Phoenix area, namely Chandler, Tempe and Mesa. And only certain retailers will be included in the scheme at first, such as Princess Pita, Filiberto’s and Bosa Donuts, although in time both the coverage zone and businesses involved are likely to be expanded.

Related:Uber, Waymo Ink Self-Driving Taxi Deal

The service will work on a familiar, albeit slightly different, basis to normal.

According to Waymo, customers who place an order in the designated service area will receive an in-app prompt that explains: “autonomous vehicles may deliver your order.”

If the customer does not want their food to be brought by AV, there is an option to instead specify delivery by a human courier during checkout.

After their order is submitted, the customer is then informed if the delivery will be carried out by one of Waymo’s Jaguars.

If so, they will then have to wait for the self-driving vehicle to arrive. Once it does, they will be requested to go outside to meet it and unlock the trunk with their phone to collect the order.

The new service was hailed by Uber in a blog post, which stated: “The addition of food delivery to Uber’s ongoing partnership with Waymo reflects both companies’ mission to encourage zero-emission trips and unlock greater innovation for consumers and merchants in Phoenix and beyond.”