Uber’s grocery delivery service expands to more than 400 cities and towns

By Trevor Mogg July 19, 2021

Uber is doubling down on its grocery delivery efforts. On Monday, it announced a major expansion to more U.S. cities and towns that more than doubles the reach of the service

The company said its grocery delivery service, available via its Uber and Uber Eats apps, is now available in more than 40o cities and towns across the country, including major centers such as San Francisco, New York City, Miami, Dallas, and Washington, DC.

The move into new locations comes after Uber partnered with Albertsons Companies, which owns 1,200 U.S. grocery stores that include Safeway, Jewel-Osco, ACME, Tom Thumb, and Randalls, among others.

San Francisco-based Uber said that Uber Pass and Eats Pass customers who order more than $30 worth of groceries will be able to skip the delivery fee.

Uber executive Raj Beri said in a release that the past year has been one of “incredible growth for grocery delivery.” The company pivoted to grocery delivery in 2020 after the pandemic caused a sudden decline in trips using its traditional ridesharing service. With more people staying home at the height of the pandemic and shopping online instead of venturing out to the supermarket, grocery delivery services proved popular nationwide.

“Today nearly three million consumers order groceries and other essentials each month through Uber and we’re just getting started, “ Beri said. “By adding thousands of beloved grocers to our selection this year, we are fast-tracking our efforts to help Americans get everything they need from their favorite supermarket, delivered to their doorsteps.”

Uber will continue to add new locations to its grocery delivery service throughout this year in an expansion that will help it to compete more effectively with the likes of Amazon and Instacart.

For a rundown of other grocery delivery services, check out this handy Digital Trends guide featuring apps that let you order from your phone in just a few taps.

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Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

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While you might think the drones would be used for long-distance travel, instead they’ll likely be used for more local deliveries, at least for the time being. The drones are expected to have a maximum travel time of eight minutes, including takeoff and landing, and will have a range of 18 miles. For round-trip deliveries, the drones will likely travel 12 miles.
In previous conversations about the project, Uber has suggested that it doesn’t plan to use the drones for an entire restaurant to door delivery and instead plans to use the drones for more of a "last mile” approach. For instance, a restaurant might load up several drones for a delivery area and then those drones will all be launched from a central location to their final stops.
In another scenario, the drones will be deployed from restaurants to parked Uber vehicles that will then be responsible for delivering the food that final mile to its destination.
In July, Uber was conducting tests of the delivery drone in San Diego. Those tests were done from a McDonald’s in the area and were done using an Air Robot AR200 octocopter with a custom-built box for holding the food.
In July, Uber talked about building its own drones for food delivery and said that they could eventually reach speeds of 70mph. It had hoped to have its commercial service set up by this summer, which clearly didn’t pan out.
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In the case of Wing, customers have to opt into receiving deliveries via drone should they want to try the technology out.

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