Starship Technologies and Uber Eats teams on last mile delivery with robots across Europe and US
Starship Technologies and Uber Technologies have announced a collaboration to roll-out autonomous sidewalk robot delivery across multiple markets. The partnership will start with the UK in December, followed by multiple European countries in 2026, and US expansion planned for 2027.
Robot deliveries are launching in Leeds, UK, during December. They will be operating at level 4 autonomy and will have the capability to complete deliveries in under 30 minutes for distances of up to two miles.
"Together, we're building the infrastructure that will define the next generation of urban logistics," says Ahti Heinla, co-founder and CEO at Starship Technologies. "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."
“Autonomous delivery is an exciting part of how we see the future of Uber Eats,” says Sarfraz Maredia, Global Head of Autonomous at Uber. “Together with Starship, we’re bringing this future to life across multiple continents, leveraging our global scale and Starship’s proven autonomy to deliver efficient and affordable experiences for consumers and merchants everywhere.”
2025 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS
Autonomous deliveries were a key focus area at the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards.
We received a record number of entries and many fantastic examples of the continued resilience and dynamism of the retail space during hugely challenging times.
For a full rundown of all of the shortlisted entries, click here.
Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC in Central London on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”
“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”
He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”
Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.
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