Uber Eats launching robot delivery option in Fairfax, Virginia, as part of partnership

A popular shopping and dining district in Northern Virginia will start to see sidewalk delivery robots carrying Uber Eats orders. 

Uber Technologies and robotics company Cartken on Thursday unveiled the new AI-powered robot deliveries in the Mosaic District of Fairfax, Virginia. 

It will be available for people at the Mosaic District with orders from merchants there participating in the program, they said in a press release.

Cartken said in a video shared on Twitter that the delivery program has over 10 restaurants participating, including RASA, Our Mom Eugenia and Pupatella.

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“Our team at Cartken is excited to further partner with Uber Eats and expand our reach to serve the Fairfax community,” Cartken co-founder and COO Anjali Jindal Naik said in a statement. 

“Cartken is at an inflection point, where we are rapidly bringing our AI, computer vision and LiDAR-less autonomous robots to more places, like Mosaic District, in partnership with Uber Eats.”

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With the deployment in Fairfax, the partnership between Uber and Cartken has grown, according to the companies. They also teamed up four months ago to offer the service in an area of Florida’s Miami-Dade County.

On its website, Uber said it was “testing autonomous delivery in Houston, Texas, and Los Angeles and Mountain View, California, where all-electric sidewalk robots and autonomous cars are delivering food to the community.” 

Those efforts involve partnerships with other companies.

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In February, Uber said it generated $8.6 billion in overall revenue for the fourth quarter. Of that, $2.9 billion came from its delivery segment. Its net income narrowed, coming in at $595 million.