Waymo’s fully autonomous vehicles (AVs) are now delivering food for Uber Eats without a driver in the driver seat, according to an Uber Eats press release. 

The two companies launched the food delivery service earlier this month in the Arizona cities of Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa, and Chandler. 

Waymo has been operating robotaxis without test drivers in the Phoenix area, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. 

The press release says consumers are notified when their food delivery arrives via the Uber Eats app. The customer then will be required to use their phone to unlock the Waymo vehicle to retrieve their items. 

GM Cruise also redeployed its self-driving vehicles with a safety driver in Phoenix earlier this month, according to CNBC. The company pulled all its vehicles off the roadways last October after the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) suspended the company’s operations, in part due to safety, but also because the state said Cruise “misrepresented” information related to the vehicles’ safety.

The suspension came days after safety concerns regarding an August collision between a Cruise vehicle and a firetruck in San Francisco and a pedestrian-involved incident. 

Kentucky legislators recently overrode a veto from Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and sent a bill allowing AVs on state roads to the Secretary of State. 

The bill is effective July 31, 2026, and will be phased in with a driver behind the wheel during the first two years. 

It also requires law enforcement to create an interaction plan to be submitted to the Transportation Cabinet and the Department of Kentucky State Police before an AV can be operated on Kentucky roads without a human driver.

In California, new legislation introduced last week would require each city and county to create AV regulatory policy before they are allowed to operate on roadways. 

The bill, SB915, requires cities to specifically set policies on permitting, vehicle caps, and operating hours. It also would ask that local governments require the vehicles to have an override system for first responders. 

Cities also would be allowed to create service charges, fees, and assessments needed to administer any policy created by an ordinance, the bill says. 

Multiple AV attacks have happened in California as public disdain for the vehicles seems to be growing. 

This included a mob smashing the windows of a Waymo vehicle and setting it on fire earlier this year. An activist group, Safe Street Rebel, also has targeted AVs with protests. 

In October, ABI Research released its findings from research conducted on the current state of autonomous driving technology in conjunction with artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing, mapping, and location intelligence. ABI found that, by 2030, 69.3% of vehicles on the road will be equipped with SAE Level 2+ or higher features.

To consumers, AV features and driver supervision combinations seem radically different in terms of their value, cost, and overall impact on their personal mobility experience, according to the whitepaper.

Images

Featured image credit: ablokhin/iStock