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Uber , along with better half Mitsubishi Electric and sovereign robotics startup Cartken , are launching a service in Japan that will use self - driving sidewalk robots to deliver nutrient to customers .
The fellowship announced that the service offer through the Uber Eats app will set in motion in a prize part of Tokyo by the end of March . An Uber spokesperson say operating hours would be disclosed closer to the launch engagement .
Uber and Cartken , a startupfounded in 2019by former Google technologist behind the short - lived Bookbot , already operate a obstetrical delivery service together inFairfax , Virginia , and Miami . This latest agreement marks their first foray outside of the United States . It also bring in Mitsubishi Electric , a company that will superintend process in Tokyo .
Cartken ’s self-governing sidewalk robot , acknowledge as Model C , will be used for the delivery service . The robot , which is outfit with an insulated 27 - liter cargo bin , travels at about 3.3 miles per hr . The robot is load with sensors like photographic camera and in advance software system that facilitate it detect , perceive and ultimately navigate its environment . Cartken also has a organization that allows proletarian to remotely monitor and manoeuver the robot if require . Cartken ’s teleoperations interface will be used by Mitsubishi Electric employees who are trained in Cartken ’s distant guidance scheme , according to an Uber spokesperson .
Shoji Tanaka , the senior general manager of Mitsubishi Electric ’s advanced applications programme development centre , said robot delivery is an an in effect countermeasure to the logistics crisis that will become more serious in the hereafter .
“ We hope that this new declare initiative will dish as a catalyst for the spread of automaton speech services in Japan , ” Tanaka say . “ In the future , we will work with construction and factory infrastructure , which is one of our military capability , so autonomous robot will be able to deliver inside various facility . ”
