Uber Eats Teams Up with Mitsubishi Electric to Deliver Food in Japan Using Autonomous Robots

In March of this year, Uber Eats will begin delivering food using autonomous robots in Tokyo, the capital of Japan. The service will operate in partnership with technology companies Mitsubishi Electric and Cartken, CNBC reports.

"This collaboration represents a leap forward in reimagining the future of food delivery, making it more accessible and resilient for consumers in Japan," said Anjali Jindal Naik, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Cartken.

Uber Eats plans to make Japan the first country outside the US where autonomous food delivery will operate. Previously, similar services were available only in a few American cities, including Miami and Fairfax, Virginia. Currently, Uber Eats is collaborating with other companies to conduct pilot projects on autonomous food delivery in other cities in the US.

Cartken was founded in Oakland, California, in 2019 by former Google employees. Its autonomous robot, Model C, uses six cameras and advanced artificial intelligence models to navigate independently in its environment and detect obstacles. If necessary, each robot can switch to remote control mode, with movements controlled by an operator at the console.

Technical supervision of this fleet of robots in Japan will be handled by representatives of Mitsubishi Electric. They have also made some modifications to the devices to comply with Japanese regulatory requirements. Specifically, the speed of the Model C in Japan is limited to 5.4 km/h in accordance with local rules, much slower than the robot's maximum speed of 9.6 km/h.

The payload capacity of the device for the Japanese market has also been reduced - instead of 42.5 litres, it will only be able to hold 27 litres. Presumably, this change was made because the robot will have additional insulation to keep the food warm, as the climate in Tokyo (especially in winter) is cooler than in southern US.

Uber Eats also noted that for the sake of people's facial privacy in videos taken by robots, automatic masking is applied.

The Gaze publication also reported that since the beginning of 2024, people can summon iconic black taxis in London through the Uber service. Such taxis are very popular among tourists and Londoners and are a historical part of the capital's transportation network.