Uber is increasing its partnership with sidewalk supply robotic startup Cartken to Fairfax, Virginia.

Beginning Thursday, UberEats prospects across the Mosaic District can select to have meals from choose retailers delivered by way of one among Cartken’s small, six-wheeled, autonomous bots.

That is the second metropolis the place Uber and Cartken are partnering for business deliveries. The businesses first launched a pilot in Miami in December, which is ongoing.

The Mosaic District is a procuring and eating middle, and the bots will ship meals from eating places to properties and companies “in an round” the district, in line with an Uber spokesperson. Uber didn’t specify what the supply radius can be, however the district is about 31 acres, or 0.5 sq. miles, in line with the Fairfax County Department of Planning and Development.

Cartken’s robots are electrical and have a cargo capability of round 1.5 cubic ft, or about two paper grocery luggage. The robots have quite a few cameras used to establish objects and assist them attain their vacation spot. Cartken has stated earlier than that its robots function absolutely autonomously underneath sure situations. If the bot meets one thing it hasn’t but encountered, it may well attain out to a distant operator for help.

Apart from its partnership with Uber, Cartken has also linked up with Grubhub to convey bots to school campuses like Ohio State College. Sidewalk supply robots have gotten more and more widespread on school campuses, the place the neatly lined pavements and closed atmosphere make for a protected place to check autonomous tech.

That’s additionally possible why the Mosaic District additionally makes for a sexy location for Uber and Cartken to launch their newest partnership.

At launch, retailers like Our Mother Eugenia, Pupatella, and RASA, will take part in this system.

The businesses wouldn’t share the scale of Cartken’s fleet to be deployed, however Uber stated it may be scaled to match buyer demand. A spokesperson additionally informed TechCrunch the robots can function in all forms of climate, even snow or rain. The spokesperson declined to offer actual hours that the bots will function, however did say prospects would have the ability to entry them for lunch and dinner orders.

From the shopper’s perspective whereas ordering, nothing will change a lot. The shopper will nonetheless pay the service provider for the price of meals, and may pay a supply cost to Uber. If a buyer provides a tip, nevertheless, they’ll obtain a refund on that tip.

When the order is delivered, the shopper should meet the bot exterior and Uber will present directions for the way to entry their order.

Uber has been more and more including to its autonomous automobile pilot portfolio in recent times. Final Could, the corporate started a pilot in Los Angeles to ship meals by way of Serve Robotic’s autonomous sidewalk robots and Motional’s self-driving vehicles. On the finish of final 12 months, Uber and Motional additionally launched a robotaxi service in Las Vegas, a part of the businesses’ plan 10-year plan to co-scale throughout main North American cities.