Posts Tagged: deliveries
Uber Eats starts offering autonomous food deliveries in Fairfax, Virginia
Starting today, Uber Eats customers in Fairfax, Virginia can get their next meal delivered by a robot. In an expansion of the company’s existing partnership with Cartken, Uber has begun offering automated deliveries in the city’s Mosaic District. With today’s announcement, a select number of the more than 40 restaurants in the area have begun transporting their food aboard Cartken’s six-wheeled robots. Among the restaurants participating in the pilot include Our Mom Eugenia, Pupatella and RASA.
Uber has been testing autonomous delivery robots in a handful of markets throughout the US. Last May, the company launched two pilots in Los Angeles with the help of Motional and Serve Robotics. More recently, Uber signed a 10-year deal with Nuro to use the company’s vans for autonomous deliveries in California and Texas. Cartken, it should be noted, also works with Grubhub to deliver food on college campuses. The firm’s robot uses NVIDIA’s Jetson tech, alongside cameras and sensors, to navigate streets and sidewalks. They can travel at up to six miles per hour and carry about two full paper grocery bags of cargo to their destination.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/uber-eats-starts-offering-autonomous-food-deliveries-in-fairfax-virginia-100023523.html?src=rss
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Former eBay execs get prison time in cyberstalking case involving Twitter threats and fetal pig deliveries
Two of the eBay executives who were charged for staging a cyberstalking campaign against the creators of the eCommerceBytes newsletter have been sentenced to prison. The Justice Department says that these execs, along with five other former eBay employees, worked together to intimidate David and Ina Steiner. They apparently hatched a scheme targeting the Steiners shortly after Ina published an article in their newsletter about a lawsuit eBay filed accusing Amazon of poaching its sellers. David said the people involved in their harassment made their lives "a living hell."
James Baugh, eBay's former senior director of safety and security, was sentenced to almost five years in prison and was ordered to pay a fine of $ 40,000. Meanwhile, David Harville, eBay's former Director of Global Resiliency and the last person in the case who pleaded guilty, got a two-year sentence and was ordered to pay a $ 20,000 fine.
According to the DOJ, the group sent disturbing deliveries to the couple's home, including "a book on surviving the death of a spouse, a bloody pig mask, a fetal pig, a funeral wreath and live insects." They also sent the couple threatening Twitter messages and posted on Craigslist to invite the public to partake in sexual encounters at the victims' home. Authorities also said that Baugh, Harville and another eBay employee monitored the couple's home in person with the intention of attaching a GPS tracker to their car.
Based on the case's court documents, David Wenig, who was eBay's CEO at the time, sent another top exec a message that said "If you are ever going to take her down … now is the time" 30 minutes after Ina's post was published. In turn, that executive sent Wenig's message to Baugh, adding that Ina was a "biased troll who needs to get BURNED DOWN." As The Washington Post notes, Wenig was not charged in the case but is facing a civil lawsuit from the Steiners, who accused him of attempting to "intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence them." He denied any knowledge of the harassment campaign.
As for Baugh and Harville, both asked the Steiners for forgiveness, according to The Post. "I take 100% responsibility for this, and there is no excuse for what I have done. The bottom line is simply this: If I had done the right thing and been strong enough to make the right choice, we wouldn’t be here today, and for that I am truly sorry," Baugh said.
Alphabet’s Wing will begin drone deliveries in Dallas-Fort Worth on April 7th
Alphabet's Wing division has announced that it's launching a drone delivery service in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex on April 7th. "With this service, the DFW area will be the largest metro in the world, and the first in the United States, with access to on-demand drone delivery," a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Wing's primary launch customer is Walgreens, which will deliver health and wellness products directly to customer's homes. For that, it will use a new operational model where drones are staged at one of its own store parking lots, rather than a Wing facility. It will also be delivering ice cream from Blue Bell Creameries, Easyvet prescription pet medications (yep) and first aid kits from Texas Health.
"This will be America’s most scalable drone delivery operation to date, as Walgreens team members will process their own orders and load packages onto drones themselves – while Wing oversees the delivery from a remote location," the company said.
In a press release and video (above) from last year, Wing explained exactly how that would work. "The aircraft will arrive in small containers that serve as tiny hangars, allowing each store to quickly and easily deploy a small, dedicated fleet from its parking lot, on its roof, or in small spaces adjacent to the building."
Wing uses a hybrid multi-rotor/fixed-wing drone of its own design. It can carry packages no heavier than 1.5kg (3.3 pounds) on round trips up to around 10km (6 miles) away. The drones are autonomous, but are monitored by pilots who can take control if something goes awry. There are redundant motors, batteries and navigation systems to help prevent accidents.
Wing has been doing drone deliveries in Australia (its launch market) since early 2019, and started making drones deliveries in the US later that year. The company noted that it has made 200,000 real deliveries to date, but those were largely done in smaller communities — so the city launch is a big deal. "This is an important milestone for Wing and drone delivery in the US," the company said in a press release.
Deliveries will start on April 7th for "tens of thousands" of homes in Frisco and Little Elm, both north of Dallas. "I do want to set clear expectations: not everyone who lives within range of our drones will be able to order on Day 1. We’re going to invite customers in groups to make sure everyone has a good first experience with drone delivery," said Wing CTO Adam Woodworth.
Tesla’s deliveries increased despite supply shortages and plant closures
Tesla delivered 310,048 vehicles over the first three months of 2022, the automaker announced on Saturday. “This was an exceptionally difficult quarter due to supply chain interruptions and China Zero-Covid policy,” Musk said on Twitter shortly after Tesla shared the news.
This was an *exceptionally* difficult quarter due to supply chain interruptions & China zero Covid policy.
Outstanding work by Tesla team & key suppliers saved the day.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 2, 2022
Last month saw the company suspend production at its Shanghai Gigafactory, its largest manufacturing facility, twice. Despite those hiccups, the 310,048 vehicles Tesla delivered in Q1 represent a 68 percent year-on-year increase from Q1 2021 when the company shipped approximately 184,400 cars. According to Tesla, the Model 3 and Model Y made up the majority of its deliveries in Q1 2022, with 295,324 of those cars making their way to consumers since the start of the year. Over the same time frame, the company produced 305,407 vehicles, a not insignificant feat when you consider the supply chain issues that have affected Tesla and many other automakers.
Q1 also saw Tesla begin shipping vehicles from its $ 5.5 billion Gigafactory in Grenheide, Germany. The company plans to eventually produce 500,000 cars per year from the plant.
NYC bill would ban grocery apps from promising 15-minute deliveries
Grocery apps in New York City might have to tone down promises of ultra-fast deliveries. The New York Postreports city Councilman Christopher Marte plans to introduce a bill that will ban these apps from advertising 15-minute delivery times. The estimates encourage couriers to violate traffic laws and put people at risk, Marte said.
The bill should be ready within the next few weeks. It would be part of a larger legislation bundle tackling grocery apps. Marte said he was pressing for bills that would provide more benefits and protections to delivery workers, but hasn't shared more details.
The potential law comes as competition for fast deliveries heats up in New York. Services like Gorillas, Fridge No More and Jokr already boast of 15-minute delivery times, and DoorDash is piloting a similarly quick service in Manhattan. In many cases, the services manage speedy deliveries by shopping within a small radius and using full-time employees instead of gig workers.
However, they also follow a small but growing string of e-bike accidents in NYC. At least 20 people died in collisions linked to e-bikes in 2020. The bill won't guarantee the safety of delivery workers, but it might reduce the chances that they'll gamble with their health to arrive on time.
Some users are reporting early deliveries, have you received your OnePlus 8 or 8 Pro yet?
The brand new OnePlus 8 Series only launched on April 14th with pre-orders opening the day after, but some Reddit users in the US are reporting that they’ve already received their orders. Others have said that they’ve had tracking numbers and shipping confirmations emailed to them. Have you received your OnePlus 8 or 8 Pro […]
Come comment on this article: Some users are reporting early deliveries, have you received your OnePlus 8 or 8 Pro yet?
Alphabet’s Wing starts drone deliveries to US homes
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The ‘Digit’ robot could be the future of humanoid pizza deliveries
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Tesla offers ‘immediate’ Model 3 deliveries to boost sales numbers
Tesla is determined to burnish its Model 3 sales figures, and that means getting the EV into customers' hands as quickly as possible — including through some unconventional methods. Electrek has learned that Tesla is emailing reservation holders pro…
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Uber’s self-driving trucks are making deliveries in Arizona
Uber announced today that its self-driving trucks have been operating in Arizona for the last couple of months. The company said it has two main transfer hubs in Sanders and Topock, but other than that, Uber is being pretty tight-lipped about the ope…
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Tesla will livestream the first Model 3 deliveries tomorrow
Elon Musk promised to hand over the first 30 Tesla Model 3s at a special soirée tomorrow (July 28th), and buyers and fans of the EV are psyched. Rightfully so — it's the most important electric car ever, with sales estimated at around 400,000…
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Thinking about a local side business? UberRush can handle your deliveries
If you have a small business or are thinking of one, new UberRush public availability could help with your delivery system. Local area delivery service can be a huge timesink for small startups and businesses with peak demand times.
The post Thinking about a local side business? UberRush can handle your deliveries appeared first on Digital Trends.
Walmart is testing grocery deliveries with Uber and Lyft
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Amazon aims to speed up deliveries with new truck trailers
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