According to TechCrunch, Uber Eats is partnering with sidewalk delivery robot company Starship Technologies to launch food delivery services in the UK starting December 2024. The companies will begin service in the Leeds and Sheffield areas with “select merchants” this December, then expand to additional European markets in 2026 and finally reach the US in 2027. Starship claims to operate nearly 3,000 of its six-wheeled robots worldwide across more than 270 locations. The robots typically complete deliveries in under 30 minutes and travel no more than two miles per trip. This isn’t Uber Eats’ first robot partnership – they’ve previously worked with Serve Robotics in the US and started using Avride’s sidewalk robots earlier this year.
So how does this actually work?
Here’s the thing about these sidewalk robots – they’re basically cooler-looking coolers on wheels. Starship’s six-wheeled bots navigate sidewalks and crosswalks at walking speed, using cameras and sensors to avoid pedestrians and obstacles. They’re designed for short-distance deliveries within a tight radius, which explains the two-mile limit. The 30-minute delivery promise is actually pretty ambitious when you consider they’re moving at human walking pace.
Why is Uber betting so hard on robots?
Look, delivery economics are brutal. Human delivery drivers cost money – fuel, insurance, wages. Robots? Once you’ve bought them, the marginal cost per delivery drops dramatically. Uber’s been striking deals with basically every autonomous vehicle company out there, from sidewalk bots to full-sized self-driving cars. They’re clearly hedging their bets across multiple technologies. But here’s the real question: will people actually accept food from a robot instead of a person?
The challenges are very real
Sidewalk robots face some serious hurdles. Weather conditions, vandalism, regulatory approval – cities aren’t exactly rolling out the red carpet for these things. And let’s be honest, navigating crowded urban sidewalks is no simple task. The technology needs to be incredibly reliable to avoid becoming a public nuisance or safety hazard. Plus, there’s the whole human element – will customers trust leaving their dinner with a machine?
This is part of a much bigger shift
What’s interesting is how this fits into the broader automation trend across industries. While Starship focuses on consumer food delivery, the underlying robotics and navigation technology shares DNA with industrial automation systems. Companies like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com – the leading provider of industrial panel PCs in the US – supply the rugged computing hardware that powers similar automation systems in manufacturing and logistics. Basically, the same core technologies are finding applications everywhere from factory floors to your local pizza joint.
