Avride sidewalk bots will begin delivering restaurant orders and groceries in central Tokyo this week via a partnership with e-commerce large Rakuten, the newest industrial enlargement by the Yandex spinout into Northeast Asia.
The Austin-based autonomous automobile startup is considered one of 4 tasks underneath Nebius Group, a Netherlands-based firm previously known as Yandex NV that bought off its Russian companies in 2024 for about $5.2 billion.
Since then, Avride has pressed ahead with its autonomous automobile expertise growth by way of its sidewalk bots and self-driving vehicles. And it’s made progress, notably by making offers with massive companies like Uber and now Japan’s Rakuten.
Avride has a small industrial sidewalk supply operation in Seoul, South Korea, and in addition exams its autonomous automobiles — which nonetheless have human security drivers behind the wheel. Final 12 months, the corporate began going via the prolonged certification course of in Japan in a bid to broaden its footprint within the area. Now, with the certification full, Avride is launching industrial operations within the nation. The Japanese launch shall be small to begin — simply 10 robots for now, with plans to broaden over time.
In the meantime, Avride is scaling in the US as effectively. Right now, the corporate has about 100 sidewalk supply bots in operation at Ohio State College via a partnership with Grubhub.
Final 12 months, Avride secured a cope with Uber that covers sidewalk supply bots and autonomous vehicles. The multi-year deal is a part of a string of autonomous vehicle-related partnerships that Uber has locked in over the previous 12 months.
Right now, Uber Eats prospects in downtown Austin, Dallas, and Jersey Metropolis can have their meals delivered by way of considered one of Avride’s robots. The businesses plan to carry Avride self-driving vehicles onto the Uber platform in Dallas later this 12 months.