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AV company teams up with Uber Eats to roll out robot delivery service in Austin

A small white robot on wheels crosses a street
Patricia Lim
/
KUT News
An Avride delivery robot crosses the street in downtown Austin.

Austinites who live or work downtown can now get their takeout delivered by a little white robot.

The service was launched this week on Uber Eats through a partnership with Austin-based autonomous vehicle startup Avride. The robots are delivering to addresses between Cesar Chavez and 15th streets and I-35 and West Avenue.

Right now only Mai Thai and Maiko Sushi are participating in the service, but Yulia Shveyko, Avride’s head of communications, expects more restaurants to opt in.

Uber Eats patrons can decline the robot and have their order delivered by a courier instead. If you stick with the robot, you can watch it scuttle along Austin's sidewalks on your phone until it arrives at your door.

“Robots are really new,” Shveyko said. “They need to be comfortable to people and they need to look friendly. And these LED panels with different eye animations help them look cute and friendly.”

An arm puts a brown bag inside a cooler-looking thing on wheels
Patricia Lim
/
KUT News
Yulia Shveyko, Avride's head of communications, places a bag inside the robot.

Austin is the first city Avride is offering the robot delivery service in; Jersey City and Dallas are next on its list. But this isn’t Austin’s first rodeo with tiny robots beetling around town with hot takeout.

In 2021, Michigan-based Refraction AI deployed 10 silver robots around Travis Heights and the Central Business District to deliver Southside Flying Pizza. California-based Coco launched its robot delivery service in Austin in 2022.

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