Uber Eats and Boston-based Motional have officially entered the autonomous delivery market with the launch of a Santa Monica, California, service.
Uber Eats will begin delivering from select restaurants in Santa Monica using autonomous vehicles provided by Motional.
Motional is expanding its testing grounds to Los Angeles and adding a new facility in the Bay Area.
Boston-based Motional is testing how its AVs can collect and transmit data on electric infrastructure to utility provider Eversource.
Lyft riders in Miami will be able to choose a self-driving car later this year through an agreement with Ford and autonomous-tech company Argo AI.
In 2017, Lyft launched its Level 5 division, which would focus on developing an autonomous vehicle. Last month, the company pivoted away from that, selling the division, although it still harbors visions of Lyft riders in autonomous vehicles.
Motional, the Hyundai-backed autonomous vehicle developer, announced that it is now testing vehicles with no driver in the seat.
As rideshare has plummeted because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lyft has had to chart a new path forward in the next decade. That path features a reliance on autonomous vehicles and e-commerce deliveries.
