Uber Technologies and Avride have announced a multi-year strategic partnership to bring Avride’s delivery robots and autonomous vehicles to Uber and Uber Eats.

The delivery partnership will launch first with sidewalk robots on Uber Eats in Austin in the coming weeks, before expanding to Dallas and Jersey City, New Jersey, later this year. The mobility partnership is expected to launch for riders in Dallas later next year.

After launch, when a consumer requests a qualifying delivery or ride on the Uber Eats or Uber apps, they may be presented with the option to have that trip fulfilled by an Avride delivery robot or autonomous vehicle.

Avride delivery robots are already making commercial deliveries in the US and South Korea, while its autonomous cars are currently being tested on public roads.

Dmitry Polishchuk, CEO of Avride said: “We are excited to partner with Uber as we scale our operations and work together to further improve the delivery experience for both consumers and merchants. We plan to expand the total fleet of Avride robots operating within Uber Eats to hundreds in 2025, followed by the launch of our robotaxi service.”

Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber said: “Autonomous mobility and delivery hold a ton of promise for consumers and communities. We’re excited to partner with Avride to bring their technology to more people in more places, as they continue to scale.”

Avride is a US-based autonomous vehicle startup headquartered in Austin, TX, with additional R&D hubs around the world. The company develops and operate both autonomous cars and delivery robots that utilise shared technologies.