Uber Technologies Inc. today announced it’s partnering with autonomous vehicle company Motional Inc. to do a trial of driverless food delivery in 2022.

Motional is a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Co. and Aptiv Plc to combine Aptiv’s self-driving car technology with Hyundai’s car-making skills. The company claims that it’s at the forefront of the driverless industry and one of the world’s leaders in robotaxis. Notably, Motional also has an existing partnership with Uber rival Lyft Inc., providing the company driverless vehicles as part of a program to launch a robotaxi service in Las Vegas in 2023.

The pilot program will be based in Santa Monica. The vehicles to be used in the program will be the Hyundai IONIQ 5-based robotaxi with in-vehicle modifications in place to enable autonomous deliveries. The deliveries will consist of curated meal kits from select restaurants on Uber Eats.

The Hyundai vehicles being used in the trial have not previously been used to make deliveries. Motional says the Uber partnership signals the company’s evolution to a dual-purpose product strategy.

Although driverless cars making deliveries sounds good, there is a catch. Engadget reported that the pilot program may be using self-driving vehicles, but the service will launch with safety operators present in the vehicles, calling them “not quite autonomous.”

“Our consumers and merchant partners have come to expect convenience, reliability and innovation from Uber and this collaboration represents a huge opportunity to meet — and exceed — those expectations,” Sarfraz Maredia, vice president and head of Uber Eats in the U.S. and Canada, said in a statement.

The partnership with Motional is also notable for Uber. It comes 12 months after the company exited the self-driving car development business, selling its Advanced Technologies Group to Amazon.com Inc.-backed autonomous vehicle startup Aurora Innovation Inc. for $4 billion. Not developing its own autonomous vehicle technology has freed Uber to pursue other opportunities such as this partnership with Motional.

Photo: Motional