Food-delivering robots could be coming to a front door near you in just a few weeks.
Uber Eats has promised to start rolling out the autonomous delivery bots in two major UK cities “before the end of the year”.
The food brand has partnered with robots company Starship Technologies, which will begin deploying the bots this year, before expanding into Europe in 2026 and the US in 2027.
This isn’t the first time Starship has used robots – the firm says it has worked with other brands for over “9 million deliveries across seven countries”.
The partnership is preparing to start in Sheffield and Leeds as soon as possible.
Sarfraz Maredia, Uber’s Global Head of Autonomous, said: “Autonomous delivery is an exciting part of how we see the future of Uber Eats,
“Together with Starship, we’re bringing this future to life across multiple continents.”
Sarfraz added that the partnership would “deliver efficient and affordable experiences” for Uber users.
The first robots will arrive in Leeds in December 2025, which will operate at “level 4 autonomy”.
This means they can function independently without requiring continuous human supervision.
The company explained: “Starship robots are 99% autonomous.”
“They learn with every journey – and they’ve safely completed millions more deliveries than any competitor.
“Our robots deliver hot food, groceries, and industrial supplies, using a combination of radars, cameras, sensors, and machine learning to identify objects and navigate the world around them.”
Starship says the robots will be able to carry out deliveries “in under 30 minutes” and will be able to deliver to addresses as far as two miles away.
Starship CEO Ahti Heinla said: “Together, we’re building the infrastructure that will define the next generation of urban logistics.
“Uber Eats has built the world’s leading delivery platform, with the widest reach, trusted by millions across 10,000 cities. We bring scalable autonomous technology that works profitably at city scale.”
Over 10 Uber-branded robots will start delivering food in Leeds to begin with.
Unlike normal Uber drivers, it won’t be possible to tip Uber robots.
Starship robots are already running in the UK – the company has partnered with Co-op to offer deliveries in multiple cities already, including Milton Keynes.
Starship says its average delivery time from store to customer is 15 minutes, and has already worked with the following brands:
- Bolt
- Sodexo
- Grubhub
- Aramark
- Co-op
- S-kaupat
- Alepa
- Merck
- Chartwells Higher Ed
The company’s new robots will only make Uber Eats deliveries and will be branded with the company’s logo.
