Following its autonomous food delivery launch in Miami and Fairfax, Virginia, Uber Eats will soon be offering the same robotic service in Japan -- its first outside the US. It is once again collaborating with Google alum startup Cartken, with local compliance help from Mitsubishi Electric, to bring a fleet of Model C sidewalk delivery robots to select areas in Tokyo in March. Uber Eats Japan CEO Shintaro Nakagawa says the autonomous delivery service will solve the local labor shortage issue, while complementing the existing human delivery methods "by bicycle, motorbike, light cargo, and on foot." Cartken's six-wheeled Model C uses six cameras and advanced AI models for autonomous driving plus obstacle detection, and remote control mode is available when needed. With guidance from Mitsubishi, the robot has been modified to suit local needs in Japan.

Thousands of four-wheeled robots will soon drop off burritos, salads and other food orders placed with Uber Eats. Robotics company Serve has been working with the delivery giant since 2021, and the firms announced Tuesday they are ready to unleash 2,000 self-driving bots in major US cities starting in 2026. The small AI-powered machines can carry up to 50 pounds of merchandise for 25 miles on a single charge, which Serve said is enough power for dozens of deliveries in one day. Select customers who place food orders via the Uber Eats app may receive the option to deliver their orders by a Serve robot. The partnership will provide customers with contact-free deliveries.

Starting today, Uber Eats customers in Fairfax, Virginia can get their next meal delivered by a robot. In an expansion of the company's existing partnership with Cartken, Uber has begun offering automated deliveries in the city's Mosaic District. With today's announcement, a select number of the more than 40 restaurants in the area have begun transporting their food aboard Cartken's six-wheeled robots. Among the restaurants participating in the pilot include Our Mom Eugenia, Pupatella and RASA. Uber has been testing autonomous delivery robots in a handful of markets throughout the US.

Uber may be looking to replace some human drivers with robots after facing court battles from workers seeking pay raises. The ride-hailing giant is employing self-driving robots to deliver food items for its UberEats from select merchants in Miami, Florida and is set to expand into more cities next year. The sidewalk-traveling, six-wheeled robots are from Cartken, which former Google engineers founded, and feature a trunk capable of carrying up to 24 pounds of cargo. The partnership, announced Thursday, comes two days after a Manhattan judge granted Uber's bid to temporarily block a pay hike for ride-share drivers from going into effect next week. The pay raise would have increased by 23.93 percent per mile. Uber is said to take about 25 percent commission from drivers.