- Motional's autonomous vehicles are now conducting end-to-end
food deliveries on the Uber Eats network
- Launch represents Uber Eats' first partnership with an
autonomous vehicle company for this purpose
- Pilot lays the foundation for future initiatives between
Motional and Uber
SANTA
MONICA, Calif., May 16, 2022
/PRNewswire/ -- Motional, a global driverless technology leader,
and Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE: UBER) today launched autonomous
deliveries for Uber Eats customers in Santa Monica, California. Motional's
all-electric IONIQ 5 vehicles, operating autonomously, are now
conducting end-to-end food deliveries.
"Autonomous delivery signifies the next phase of Motional's
commercial roadmap," said Abe
Ghabra, Motional's Chief Operating Officer. "This service
will provide the learnings and experience needed to make Motional
the trusted AV provider for on-demand delivery networks. We're
proud to partner with Uber on this important milestone and begin
introducing Uber Eats customers to autonomous technology."
"At Uber, we're always looking for ways to use new technology to
help consumers go anywhere and get anything," said Noah Zych, Global GM for Uber's Autonomous
Mobility and Delivery business. "We're thrilled to begin piloting
with Motional in California and
are eager to see how their promising autonomous technology will
begin to change how people and goods move throughout the world for
the better."
Motional and Uber's First-of-its-Kind
Partnership
Motional and Uber announced their partnership in December
of last year, signaling important firsts for both companies:
the first on-road autonomous vehicle (AV) pilot on the Uber Eats
network and Motional's entry into the autonomous delivery market.
Motional and Uber see an opportunity for AVs to benefit the
on-demand delivery space by providing safe, cost efficient, and
reliable deliveries.
The companies look forward to learning from the service and
receiving customer feedback, as they jointly develop an
automated delivery model that could quickly scale to more areas
across Los Angeles and in other
cities. The goal of the pilot is to create the groundwork for
future commercial activities between Motional and Uber.
The Autonomous Delivery Experience
The Motional IONIQ 5 vehicles used in the service have been
adapted to enable autonomous deliveries. While Motional has
extensive experience moving passengers, this is the company's first
time transporting commercial goods. To prepare, its teams have
spent months studying every touchpoint between the restaurant and
end-customer, and conducted extensive testing in the Los Angeles area.
Participating merchants will receive a notification when the AV
arrives, meet the vehicle at the designated pick-up location,
and place the order in a specially-designed compartment in the
backseat. Upon arrival at the drop-off location, the customer will
receive an alert, securely unlock the vehicle door via the Uber
Eats app, and collect their order from the backseat.
The service will allow Motional and Uber to study the
integration of their technologies, consumer demand, the user
interactions with the AV, and additional autonomy features needed
to enable autonomous deliveries. These factors are critical
for a seamless customer experience and will also help inform
broader applications of Motional's AV fleet. Uber sees AVs playing
a long-term role on its platform, across a variety of use cases,
and plans to be an accelerator in bringing this innovative
technology to its customers.
For more information on Motional, visit Motional.com/news,
and for more information on Uber,
visit Uber.com/newsroom.
About Motional
Motional is a driverless technology company making autonomous
vehicles a safe, reliable, and accessible reality. The company
formed in 2020 as a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group, one
of the world's largest vehicle manufacturers offering smart
mobility solutions, and Aptiv, a global industrial technology
leader in advanced safety, electrification, and vehicle
connectivity.
The Motional team has driven some of the driverless industry's
largest leaps forward, including the first fully-autonomous
cross-country drive in the U.S, the launch of the world's first
robotaxi pilot, and operation of the world's most-established
public robotaxi fleet which has conducted over 100,000 public
rides.
Motional is developing and commercializing SAE Level 4
autonomous vehicles for ride-hail and
delivery applications.
Headquartered in Boston,
Motional has operations in the U.S and Asia. For more information, visit
www.Motional.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn,
Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
About Uber Eats
Uber Eats is an on-demand app and website that helps bring
millions of people around the world the things they want, at the
tap of a button. We partner with over 780,000 restaurants and
merchants in more than 11,000 cities across six continents. From
specialty local favorites to national brand names, groceries to
household essentials and more, Uber Eats has what you want when you
want it—with an average global delivery time of 30 minutes.
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SOURCE Motional