Uber Eats starts robot deliveries in Tokyo

Because of growing labour shortages, robot deliveries will be offered starting Wednesday in Tokyo of Japan.

Japan changed traffic laws last year to allow delivery robots on public streets. Uber Eats' boxy robots, moving at up to 5.4 kilometres per hour have square headlights for eyes and three wheels on each side to calculate routes on their own, using sensors to avoid pedestrians and other obstacles.

The robot was developed with Mitsubishi Electric and US start-up Cartken and will deliver food from just a few restaurants in the busy Nihonbashi district at first.