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Following the launch of autonomous food delivery in Miami and Fairfax, Virginia, Uber Eats will soon offer the same robotic service in Japan — First outside the United States. Partnering again with Google alumni startups kart kenwith support from local compliance. Mitsubishi Electric, plans to introduce a fleet of Model C sidewalk delivery robots to some areas of Tokyo in March. Uber Eats Japan CEO Shintaro Nakagawa said the self-driving delivery service will solve the local labor shortage problem while complementing existing manual delivery methods such as “bicycles, motorcycles, light cargo, and on foot.”
Cartken’s six-wheeled Model C uses six cameras and an advanced AI model for autonomous driving and obstacle detection, with a remote control mode available if needed. With guidance from Mitsubishi, the robot was modified to suit local needs in Japan. First, local regulations limit the speed to 5.4 km/h, or about 3.36 mph, which is much lower than the actual top speed of 6 mph. Load capacity was also reduced from 1.5 cubic feet to about 0.95 cubic feet (27 liters), likely due to the addition of insulation in the compartment. Uber Eats added that human faces will be automatically masked in videos captured by the robot to protect privacy.
This will be Uber Eats’ robot delivery debut in Japan, but Kartken already has a presence there thanks to Mitsubishi. Since early 2022, the two have been working with Starbucks, local e-commerce giant Rakuten, and supermarket chain Seiyu in some regions of Japan. In the U.S., Kartken has also partnered with Grubhub to provide autonomous food delivery services on college campuses such as Ohio State University and the University of Arizona.
Uber Eats has not yet revealed which restaurants in Tokyo will use its robot delivery service, but given Kurtken’s previous experience locally, he shouldn’t have a problem seeking a partnership. That being said, I highly doubt these two would still risk trying out the robot among the drunken crowds in Shibuya.