The trial, due to commence in the next few months, will see robots built by Starship Technologies cruising along the streets of London with Just Eat deliveries inside them.
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Pizza delivery could be the next job to be replaced by machines, as self-driving robots begin delivering meals and packages in Europe.
“By launching partnerships with major companies we will enter the next phase in our development”, says Ahti Heinla, co-founder, CEO and CTO of Starship Technologies.
Now the partners include London food delivery startup Pronto.co.uk, European food delivery company Just Eat, German package delivery firm Hermes and German retailer Metro Group. Trials start this month in London, followed by Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Bern.
The six-wheeled intelligent robots travel at slow speeds along sidewalks to deliver parcels and groceries to customers within a 2-3 mile radius, all the while being monitored by human operators in control centers.
Unlike Amazon’s proposed drone delivery program, Starship’s robots will not be flying.
Just Eat, which has 14.2 million active users and 64,000 restaurants on its platform, touted the robots’ safety record, saying they have clocked up close to 5,000 miles and met over 400,000 people without any incidents. When a robot arrives at its destination, customers simply need to type in a code that has been sent to them via the mobile app to open the lid and collect their food.
Just Eat chief executive David Buttress said: “In busy times there’s a shortage of supply drivers”. With scalable innovation at the core of their business, they are the ideal partner for us at Just Eat.
The restaurants taking part in the trial will be announced in due course.
Starship says that it plans to expand into other European cities and the United States once testing has been completed.
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He added: “Starship is right at the forefront of innovation in the delivery sector and so it’s a natural fit for us to be partnering with them to bring delivery robots to our high streets”. He said Starship would likely announce further customers, including some in the USA, within months.
