Just Eat UK just started a really exciting trial. They’re using four-legged delivery robots that can traverse complex urban landscapes and climb stairs! The pilot program is currently and actively being trialed in Milton Keynes and Bristol. It features ten independent restaurants, allowing the company to test various advancements in autonomous delivery systems.
The robots, with small omni-wheels being used as feet, are capable of overcoming difficult urban terrain like staircases. This feature is arguably the most noteworthy since it makes them far more useful in cities where traditional last-mile delivery solutions would fail. Among Milton Keynes’ participating eateries are 12th Street Burgers & Shakes and Moores Fish & Chips. In Bristol, the trial involves eight businesses as partners, including Jolly Fryer, Chicken Mews and Bishopston Fish Bar.
Robots will be monitored by staff located away from the participating restaurants. This arrangement improves safety as well as efficiency. The bots wear big, flashy orange Just Eat boxes on their backs. They’re poised to usher in a new era of food deliveries in cities!
Just Eat UK has partnered with RIVR. This partnership is an encouraging milestone toward bringing autonomous delivery to cities all over Europe at scale. Marko Bjelonic, chief executive of RIVR, highlighted the significance of this partnership with the following words,
“This is an important step in scaling autonomous delivery across European cities.”
He greatly underplays the importance of the Milton Keynes launch. It shows off our dedication to practical, automated delivery that fits naturally into existing operations.
In the UK, we recently launched a trial that we’re testing live right now. This comes on the heels of a wildly successful pilot program in Switzerland, where they performed nearly 1,000 autonomous deliveries. In Ireland, in fact, they’re field-testing delivery drones. This demonstrates that the trend toward automating all aspects of food delivery services is gaining momentum.
With urbanization projected to increase globally, innovations such as these delivery robots may be part of a larger trend that transforms food services altogether. These trials will provide tremendous learnings to understand just how effective, yet reliable autonomous systems can be deployed on busy, complex city streets. This understanding will lead to wider adoption down the road.
