From PC Mag: Step away from the ramen: Yandex and Grubhub are teaming up to bring robot food delivery to US college campuses. Dozens of autonomous rovers will perform last-mile drop-offs to select universities this fall, navigating sidewalks, pedestrian areas, and crosswalks in areas not easily accessible by car.
"Together with Yandex, we're changing the way college students experience food delivery," Brian Madigan, VP of corporate and campus partners at Grubhub, said in a statement, citing cost-effective and scalable capabilities in an effort to "adapt to students' unique dining needs."
Hungry students can place an online order, wait for the bot to arrive, and open a hatch in the rover via the Grubhub app. Grab your food, close the door, and wave as the android rolls away to its next location.
Built with the same self-driving technology as Yandex's autonomous vehicles, the bots—operating commercially in Russia since late 2020—run day and night, in "moderate" snowfall and rain, and on regulated and unregulated crosswalks. Yandex rovers have also been delivering orders from local restaurants in Ann Arbor, Mich., for the last three months.
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