Uber Eats, Mitsubishi Electric, and Cartken have teamed up to bring autonomous robot delivery to Japan.
In a statement, the firms said the AI-powered service will begin in March, making Japan only the second country in the world where Uber Eats will offer robotic delivery after the United States. The delivery robot designed by Cartken will be deployed on the Uber Eats app after Mitsubishi Electric has adapted it to Japanese specifications, introduced it, and operated it, the firms said.
Cartken’s delivery robot is equipped with object detection technology and can run on footpaths at a maximum speed of 5.4km/h. In the images captured by the camera, people are masked so that their identities cannot be identified, and the system is designed to protect the privacy of passersby.
The inside of the robot has an insulated loading space which keeps food and other items at the appropriate temperature during delivery. To retreive an order customers must meet the delivery robot outside before unlock their meal using their phone.
Source: Uber Eats
The Japanese unveiling follows an expansion of the roadside robots across the U.S. last year, after the autonomous delivery technology had initially been tested, in Miami, in December 2022.
Speaking on the launch, Uber Eats, Japan CEO, Shintaro Nakagawa said: ““Autonomous robots will not become widespread overnight, but amid concerns about labor shortages, autonomous robots will be introduced over the medium to long term as an attempt to increase the number of delivery methods available.”
Shoji Tanaka, Director of Advanced Application Development Center, Development Division, Mitsubishi Electric said: “Robot delivery is considered to be an effective measure against the logistics crisis that will become more serious in the future, and in order to address these social issues, we have been developing a business together with our autonomous robot partner Cartken. We hope that the initiatives announced this time will be a catalyst for the spread of robot delivery services in Japan.”
He added: “In the future, we will continue to develop autonomous robots that will be able to deliver products to various indoor facilities by linking with the infrastructure of buildings and factories, which is our specialty. We will continue to strive to provide an even more convenient and advanced experience.”
Comment from Cartken Co-Founder & COO Anjali Jindal Naik added: “Food delivery is becoming more accessible for Japanese consumers. We will continue to contribute to the further development of food delivery, making it easy and sustainable.”
