Our Uber Eats orders would soon start getting delivered by robots!

Uber announced a 10-year partnership with a company called Nuro that’s set to start this fall.
Nuro is renowned for developing autonomous electric vehicles without space for people that can transport goods like groceries or pizza down the road.

In this Slogging thread, our community discussed the usefulness of Uber eats(food) getting delivered by robots.

This Slogging thread by Valentine Enedah, GemInRubbles, Sara Pinto and Mónica Freitas occurred in slogging's official #technology channel, and has been edited for readability.

Valentine EnedahOct 14, 2022, 10:34 AM

Our Uber Eats orders would soon start getting delivered by robots!
https://www.popsci.com/technology/uber-eats-nuro-food-delivery-deal/

Valentine EnedahOct 14, 2022, 10:39 AM

About Nuro
This recently unveiled vehicle (bot) can move nearly 500 pounds of cargo while maintaining the appropriate temperature. In order to hopefully cause as little damage as possible should it ever inadvertently run into someone, it even has an airbag on the exterior of its front end.
However, the date Nuro would start functioning is still unknown but the prospect of this collaboration is amazing.
Food delivery via bot doesn’t always come easily.

Valentine EnedahOct 14, 2022, 10:45 AM

Do you think this is quite useful for the ecosystem?
Would you love to subscribe to their services?
Do you also think this will be applicable in Africa?

GemInRubblesOct 14, 2022, 11:03 AM

This is actually awesome. Let's look at it from the angle of its advantage whereby there is this high level of confidence that your order will arrive in good condition. I have had a run with a food delivery company where my order came all messed up and I had to reject it. Plus the fact that it can carry at much of 500 pounds of Cargo. Looking at the cons, I see these bot replacing humans and therefore leaving some people out of work plus I am curious, if there is a delay in your order, do you have access to reaching this bot?

All in all it is superb, innovation at it core and continuous leverage of technology and I will certainly love to try it out. In the long run, it can be applicable to Africa but it will certainly take a while. At least it will even help in eradicating the issues of delivery people not delivering efficient services as customers will like.

Sara PintoOct 14, 2022, 11:14 AM

Valentine Enedah, I would love to try it! It's very curious. However, I don't think it's that viable, at least, where I'm from. Would Nuro go through the usual roads to reach its destination? We got Uber Eats somewhat recently, in my zone. Since it's not really a city, the food usually comes from the nearest one, and it's still a bit of a ride. So, a robot doing a 15 minute ride in the middle of other cars, speeding, and whatnot, doesn't seem great. Plus, unattended food going around is kind of a recipe for disaster. If Nuro dislocates through the usual roads when in a big city, it also doesn't seem safe since there's way more traffic and confusion in the surroundings.

Mónica FreitasOct 14, 2022, 12:20 PM

If uber eats ever gets to deliver in my zip code area, I'd love to have a bot delivering. Thought, driving is hard as it is: people make mistakes, there are accidents. Not sure how a robot would be able to respond to those variables

Valentine EnedahOct 14, 2022, 1:56 PM

GemInRubbles Amazing! I love your thought process.
Concerning contacting the bot if there is a delay, I suppose there would be an option for that. It will actually make things easy.
Do you think Nuro could work in Lagos, Nigeria?

Valentine EnedahOct 14, 2022, 1:59 PM

Sara Pinto, You have a great point about its functionalities. There are still a lot of issues with autonomous vehicles navigating areas that are not so urban. This could be a big limitation to its functionalities. There would be so many bugs!
In third-world countries, I feel these bots are even more risks. Imagine people attacking these bots to take food from them. It's a horrific situation for both the country and the company.

Valentine EnedahOct 14, 2022, 2:03 PM

Mónica Freitas Yeah, this is a valid fact cause we still tend to have so many incidents that occur on the road and I think the only way is to improve the road awareness of these bots and also probably stop humans from driving😅
Humans are bound to make mistakes.

Mónica FreitasOct 15, 2022, 3:23 PM

Valentine Enedah do you think we should be dependant on robots to drive us around? And what would you do with people that actually enjoy driving? Give them a special playground for that?

Valentine EnedahOct 15, 2022, 4:24 PM

Mónica Freitas Well,I feel like there could be restrictions for places that have a lot of trucks passing.
These places are very susceptible to Accidents due to these large vehicles.
They can drive at places that these large vehicles are scarcely seen.
Like something,Elon Musk created the boring company. This involves creating underground tunnels that these trucks could pass through.
It reduces the rates of accidents.

GemInRubblesOct 15, 2022, 6:03 PM

Valentine Enedah Looking at Lagos and it’s inhabitant, it is an idea that the people will buy into. But there are some limiting factors such as the bad roads, the high rate of traffic that might hinder the efficiency of the bot.

Valentine EnedahOct 15, 2022, 8:19 PM

GemInRubbles
I totally agree!
There are so many factors that might affect its efficiency in Lagos.
Congested place 😂

Mónica FreitasOct 17, 2022, 10:03 AM

Valentine Enedah Musk's initiative, from what I've read, was to have tesla exclusive tunnels where the city traffic would happen. Unfortunately, his idea doesn't cover the separation of commercial transportation from civil cars. I wish it was that altruistic. But it'd be a great idea if it were

Valentine EnedahOct 17, 2022, 3:47 PM

Mónica Freitas Musk is unpredictable. Let's hope he thinks the right way.

Mónica FreitasOct 19, 2022, 4:51 PM

Valentine Enedah don't get your hopes up. Unless the government puts up barriers or conditions to his initiatives, then he'll run whole cities traffic on Teslas - I'm on board for electric cars, just not Tesla monopoly

Valentine EnedahOct 20, 2022, 8:17 AM

Mónica Freitas I feel Tesla's Monopoly is inevitable. Tesla already has the highest share in the electric cars manufacturing markets and plus some other companies use their car parts even in their vehicles.

Mónica FreitasOct 31, 2022, 4:03 PM

Valentine Enedah I believe that for the time being he has the upper hand. But over time other companies will try to recreate his technology. It'll be cheaper to manufacture your own tech than always ordering from Tesla.

Valentine EnedahOct 31, 2022, 5:32 PM

Essentially, Nuro's autonomous vehicles are designed for the masses. It will be a project that will be mind-blowing.