After developing its own technology for full self-driving capabilities, Uber was forced to sell its ATG unit to Aurora earlier in the year, in the wake of the Waymo lawsuit. Now, it has partnered with Hyundai-backed Motional which will enable Uber Eats customers to leverage autonomous driving technology for deliveries in early 2022 starting in Santa Monica.
Motional will utilise Hyundai's IONIQ 5 EVs which have been adapted with its full self-driving technology which has been rated by SAE as level 4. Motional had already announced a fleet of IONIQ 5's which had been adapted with its technology for robotaxi fleets.
"Today, Motional enters the autonomous delivery market," said Karl Iagnemma, Motional's President and CEO.
"We're proud that our first delivery partner is Uber and are eager to begin using our trusted driverless technology to offer efficient and convenient deliveries to customers in California. We're confident this will be a successful collaboration with Uber and see many long-term opportunities for further deploying Motional's technology across the Uber platform," Iagnemma added.
Uber Eats is one of the major food delivery players in North America
Uber of course for long has envisioned its business model to scale thanks to self-driving cars was forced to pull back on its efforts thanks to growing losses thanks to the pandemic and litigation with Alphabet, the parent of Waymo. Right now, this partnership is restricted to Uber Eats, but considering Motional's fleet of robotaxis with level 4 capability, it is perceivable in the future, when it is able to achieve level 5 autonomy Uber starts using its taxis for ride-sharing as well. Already Waymo has started using its robotaxis for ridesharing in parts of the US.
Motional has already started a ride-sharing service with Uber's main rival Lyft which could give a peek into what the future holds for the self-driving company.
"We're excited to partner with Motional to test a new kind of delivery for Uber Eats consumers in 2022," said Sarfraz Maredia, VP and Head of Uber Eats in the US & Canada. "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," Maredia added.
