Uber Eats Japan has partnered with Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and Cartken to provide an online food delivery service using autonomous robots in Tokyo, Japan.
The autonomous robots, which are designed by Cartken and operate using AI technology, will be deployed by the end of March 2024. Japan will be only the second country in the world after the USA where Uber Eats offers robotic delivery.
Shintaro Nakagawa, Uber Eats Japan CEO, commented, “We are delighted to announce a business alliance with Mitsubishi Electric and Cartken to provide robot delivery services. Uber Eats already offers delivery by bike, motorbike, light cargo and on foot, but in the future, robots will add a whole new way to make deliveries.
“Autonomous robots will not become widespread overnight, but we believe that they will become more important in the medium to long term as an attempt to increase the options for delivery methods amid concerns about labor shortages. We look forward to launching robot delivery to provide Uber Eats customers and merchants with delightful surprises and reliability.”
Shoji Tanaka, general manager of the Electric Development Division at Mitsubishi’s Advanced Application Development Center, added, “Robot delivery is considered to be an effective countermeasure to the logistics crisis, which will become more serious in the future. To respond to these social issues, we have been developing our business together with Cartken, our partner for autonomous robots. We hope that the initiatives announced this time will be a catalyst for the spread of robot delivery services in Japan.
“In the future, by linking with the infrastructure of buildings and factories, which is our specialty, we will develop autonomous robots that can deliver products to various indoor facilities. Mitsubishi Electric will strive to provide end users with an even more convenient and advanced experience.”
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