Uber Technologies Inc. is teaming up with robotics startup Serve Robotics Inc. and Motional Inc., a self-driving vehicle company, to pilot an autonomous food delivery service in California.

Uber announced the partnerships today. As part of the pilot program, the company will reportedly deploy robots from Serve Robotics in West Hollywood and Motional vehicles in Santa Monica. Uber hopes to use the data that it will collect as part of the initiative to find a way of providing autonomous food delivery services on a large scale. 

San Francisco-based Serve Robotics spun out of Uber last year with $13 million in initial funding from the ride-hailing giant, 7-Eleven Inc. and other investors. It raised an additional $10 million from Nvidia Corp. last March. The startup has developed a four-wheel sidewalk delivery robot (pictured) that can reportedly carry up to 50 pounds of merchandise for 25 miles on a single charge.

Serve Robotics’ robots feature Level 4 autonomy, meaning that they can navigate sidewalks without any human input. They use multiple types of sensors, including lidar and sonar devices, to map out their surroundings. Data from the sensors is turned into driving decisions by onboard artificial intelligence software running on an Nvidia Jetson chip.

Motional, the other company with which Uber has partnered on its new autonomous delivery initiative, is a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Co. and auto parts maker Aptiv PLC. Motional is developing an autonomous version of Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 electric SUV that features more than 30 sensors and can detect objects from nearly 1,000 feet away.

Motional will supply autonomous Ioniq 5 vehicles for Uber’s autonomous food delivery initiative. Orders will be placed in a “specially designed compartment” that users can unlock through the Uber app, the companies stated. 

Uber announced the autonomous food delivery initiative today alongside several updates to its namesake app. Users can now book more types of vehicles through the app, including buses. Drivers are receiving access to a mapping tool that displays nearby electric vehicle chargers.

Uber’s revenue jumped 136% last quarter, to $6.85 billion, thanks to strong growth across its core businesses. The company’s flagship mobility business increased sales 195% year-over-year, to $2.5 billion. The Uber Eats food delivery unit generated revenue of $2.51 billion.

Uber sold its self-driving vehicle division in 2020 to focus on its core mobility and food delivery businesses. However, the company’s newly announced partnerships with Serve Robotics and Motional suggest that autonomous driving continues to play a role in its long-term growth plan. Rival Lyft Inc. is also investing in this area: the company last year teamed up with Motional to make autonomous Ioniq 5 vehicles available to its users. 

Image: Serve Robotics