Waymo to debut autonomous food delivery in Phoenix

Waymo and Uber announced April 3 a new partnership that will launch in Phoenix and will have driverless cars delivering food to Uber Eats customers.

Waymo, a subsidiary of Google owner Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOGL), said in a blog post that it has expanded its partnership with Uber (NYSE: UBER) to include its food delivery service Uber Eats.

Metro Phoenix will be the first market for this partnership, with specific restaurants in Chandler, Tempe and Mesa already signed up to be part of the service.

Starting April 3, customers can order meals from the likes of Princess Pita, Filiberto’s and Bosa Donuts over Uber Eats and the orders will be delivered in an autonomous vehicle.

Uber Eats users will be able to opt out of the Waymo service if they prefer a human courier, the company said.

“When the vehicle arrives, customers will receive instructions to take their phone with them to open the vehicle’s trunk and collect their items,” Waymo wrote in its blog post.

Waymo sees the venture as a way to introduce more people to its fleet of autonomous vehicles and get the public to interact more and build trust in driverless car technology.

Since May 2023 when Uber and Waymo first launched its partnership, Waymo has operated “tens of thousands of trips on Uber,” the company said.

“We’re excited for this next stage of our partnership with Uber, and to extend the benefits of safe, convenient, all-electric autonomous driving technology to Uber Eats consumers and businesses in Phoenix,” Waymo’s blog post read.

This is the latest move by Waymo to expand its reach in the Valley. The company’s fully autonomous Waymo vehicles operate in a 225-square-mile area in metro Phoenix and has started testing the vehicles on the freeways.