Motional and Uber Eats launch autonomous deliveries in California

Santa Monica, Calif. – Motional and Uber Technologies Inc. have launched autonomous deliveries for Uber Eats customers in Santa Monica, Calif.

Motional’s all-electric IONIQ 5 vehicles, operating autonomously, are now conducting food deliveries.

The companies said they 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 Motional IONIQ 5 vehicles used in the service have been adapted to enable autonomous deliveries. While Motional has 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.