Waymo Launches Autonomous Delivery in Phoenix
Uber Eats adds shortform video, ASAP bankrupt, Careem Food in Abu Dhabi
We’re back, with big hardware and software news for you hungry delivery watchers. Plus, America just lost one delivery option, while the UAE gains one.
Today:
Waymo Delivers for Uber Eats in Arizona
Teasing A TikTok Knock Off for Resto Discovery
Chart Time | ASAP Delivers Last Meal
Careem Food Launches in Abu Dhabi
AUTONOMY | Waymo Begins Uber Eats Deliveries in Phoenix
Waymo Driver, the autonomous vehicle backed by Alphabet, is getting into the food delivery biz, as it partners up with Uber Eats. The two companies are initially launching in the Phoenix metro area, covering the same 225+ square miles where Waymo’s robotaxi service has been operating for over a year. Given that merchants will need to make some operational changes to work with the service, there are only a handful of restaurants participating in the initial launch, including Princess Pita, Filiberto's, and Bosa Donuts.
The Big Picture: The two companies have been teasing this launch for almost a year, ever since Waymo vehicles became available to Uber rideshare users. Since then, both orgs have only upped their ambitions. Uber how has six other AV partners: Serve Robotics and Motional in West Hollywood and Santa Monica, California; Cartken in Miami, Fairfax, and Tokyo; Nuro in Mountain View; a mobility-only partnership with Motional in Las Vegas; and a freight partnership with Aurora in Texas. For its part, Waymo is also growing like gangbusters, hitting nearly 500k miles traveled in February in just California; the company is also rumored to be experimenting with lowering prices off-peak to continue juicing demand.
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PRODUCT | Uber Eats Trials Short-Form Video Feed
Enough hardware news… let’s talk software! Uber Eats has launched a new in-app feature, bringing TikTok-like short form videos to its restaurant discovery screens: carousels, the homescreen, etc. Users will see the videos if they’re in a restaurant’s delivery zone; clicking in pulls up more content to endlessly scroll through. While UE is currently testing the videos in SF, NYC and Toronto, the plan is to bring it worldwide in the next few months. Of note is that these videos are *not* ads, at least not yet; Uber seems to be looking to make the app more engaging, and perhaps give users a reason to fire pick them first if someone is hungry but doesn’t quite know what they want to eat.
The Big Picture: TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts… one day we’ll have no way to communicate with each other besides 30 second blasts of pablum where we dance to remixes of songs whose original version we’ve long since forgotten. But at least we’ll be well fed! Uber has a number of other app updates on the way, as it celebrates hitting one million merchants on its Eats platform, one decade after the concept first appeared as “UberFresh” in Santa Monica / Los Angeles. Keep an eye out for more improvements to the recommendations algorithm, as well as a new app for restaurant managers.
CHART TIME | ASAP Goes Splat
Delivery also-ran ASAP has given up the ghost, officially filing for bankruptcy (see their 8-K that includes the names of all the local delivery platforms they gobbled up along the way.) Formerly known as Waitr, the company changed names in 2022, and consistently logged less than 1% market share, despite trying its hand at things like in-stadium deliveries. Evidently the company flew so far under the radar that even though its demise was first reported on March 30th, that news wasn’t priced into its stock until April 2nd.
3PD | Careem Food Launches in Abu Dhabi
Dubai-based mobility super app Careem is launching its food delivery arm — Careem Food — in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Careem Food is going to market with both local players as well as international brands like PF Chang’s; to celebrate the launch it’s offering users 50% off orders for suhor and iftar (pre-fasting and post-fasting meals during Ramadan.) Careem currently offers food delivery to 1.4 million customers in nearby Saudi Arabia and Jordan, as well as other states in the UAE. Its larger mobility platform is more broadly available, live in 70+ cities spanning Morocco to Pakistan.
The Big Picture: Careem has carved out an interesting niche for itself in its particular corner of the world. Founded in 2013, it expanded into food delivery five years later. In 2019, Uber acquired the company for a cool $3.1 billion. In April of last year, the company then split in two, with Uber selling off half the business to the Emirates Telecommunications Group Company (Etisalat) for $400 million. Uber held on to the ridesharing / TNC side, now dubbed Careem Rides. Etisalat got the rest of the business — food, payments, groceries, micromobility, on-demand labor, etc — which we now see headed back to growth mode.
A Few Good Links
Just Eat Takeaway.com nominates Mayte Oosterveld as CFO. DoorDash launches portable benefits in Pennsylvania. Gopuff launches 20 minute delivery for premium FAM members. Grubhub launches Fallout themed hamburgers; has anyone else noticed the Fallout decorated bus shelters? Chipotle giving out $1M of free food with its burrito vault game. Restaurant industry adds 28k jobs in March. Blackstone eyes Jersey Mike’s for $8B. Uber Freight adds Amazon, CH Robinson vets. Instacart brings food as medicine offering to NationsBenefits. Grocer The Giant Co shifting towards third party fulfillment. Bye bye to 99 Cents Stores. Premium 3PD Supper London shutters. Lime closes out 2023 with 156 million trips. More cities turn to camera-powered lane enforcement. Portable hygiene startup RinseKit debuts truck stop shower map (yum.) Uber Eats adds The Vitamin Shoppe. Lyft looks to compromise in Minneapolis. Ghost Autonomy disappears. Equitable Commute Project celebrates 100th ebike trade-in. Moove teases regional profitability as it secures fresh funding.
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