Robot Delivery Drivers Are Now In Downtown Miami

The next meal you order through a food delivery app may be brought to you by a robot.

Miami's first delivery robots are available downtown thanks to a partnership between Miami-based startup REEF Technology and a robotics startup called Cartken, according to TechCrunch.

“We want to show how future-forward Miami can be,” REEF’s chief technology officer Matt Lindenberger told TechCrunch. “This is a great chance to show off the capabilities of the tech. The combination of us having a big presence in Miami, the fact that there are a lot of challenges around congestion as COVID subsides, still shows a really good environment where we can show how this tech can work.”

According to the CEO of Cartken, Christian Bersch, the delivery robots use a combination of machine learning and rules-based programming to react to everyday situations.

To start, the robots are only delivering meals from a network of delivery-only restaurants, also known as "ghost kitchens," partnered with REEF.

Those restaurants include Della Bowls, Krispy Rice, Genuine Burger, Fuku, Mamma Parmigiana, BurgerFi, Michy B’s, Van Leeuwen, Sam’s Crispy Chicken, and others.

Customers who use Postmates, UberEats, DoorDash, or GrubHub to order from any of the REEF partner restaurants will see an option for a robot delivery.

You can find more information here.

Photo: Getty Images