Uber Eats to launch autonomous delivery services in Japan | Collaboration with Cartken and Mitsubishi Electric

When we talk about technology, we imagine that its development is aimed at solving problems in everyday life. It is common to think that as its development expands to the world, we must adapt to it to a greater or lesser extent.

If we were to talk about autonomous vehicles, we can say that there are already transportation services available today. One can request an autonomous taxi, which is actually a vehicle without a driver on board, that uses artificial intelligence to take a passenger to their destination.

Uber Eats has seen that this could be a solution to management and distribution problems with deliveries due to labor shortages in certain locations, so they have developed autonomous robots responsible for delivering orders.

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Image property of Uber Eats

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We can say that this was already a reality, as the first successful trial and deployment took place in the United States, specifically in Fairfax, Virginia, and also in the city of Miami in partnership with the Cartken startup (founded by former Google engineers). In the same country, there is also a partnership with Grubhub for food delivery at university campuses in Ohio and Arizona using these autonomous robots for food delivery.

We are facing a fundamental factor that could change everything moving forward regarding logistics. I imagine that the possibilities could be diverse considering what things the robots can transport and how much their capacity is.

Now this robotic service will be launched in Japan, mainly in areas near Tokyo. Something that Shintaro Nakagawa (CEO of Uber Eats Japan) mentioned was that they will try to complement existing delivery methods offered by humans. In my opinion, this is an attempt to make it clear that under no circumstances will the work of a traditional employee be displaced.

As expected, the Uber Eats app will be needed to place orders, although they will be available in Tokyo by the end of March, although there are no accurate data on the launch date or the hours these robots will work.

In addition to Cartken being a startup driving this project, there is a highly reputable partner. We are talking about Mitsubishi Electric, who will be in charge of overseeing operations across the Tokyo area.

Technically, the robot is capable of operating in a suitable environment showing interesting technological features. As mentioned earlier, a Cartken robot will be used to function autonomously (using artificial intelligence) and will be equipped with sensors and cameras for obstacle detection as well as people. And a very interesting point is that faces of individuals in images captured during the journey will be masked.

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Image property of Uber Eats

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If there's one thing to be said, these small autonomous vehicles will also have the possibility of being controlled and monitored by workers if it is really necessary. At this point, I would have a lot of fun if I could control a robot.

The robot is a C model that has 6 wheels and has a maximum speed of 5.4 km/h which I consider is suitable for navigating in an urban environment while trying to comply with local regulations. It also has a 27-liter capacity with the necessary cooling to keep the orders in good condition, although it was previously much larger.

My final opinion is very interested in this type of technology. Especially if it manages to reach other parts of the world, at least initially to first world countries. I know this will lead to a wide range of possibilities, and the more it is practiced and brought into reality, the more experience there will be to implement new solutions that make a difference in our daily lives.