Uber Eats launches AI cart assistant for grocery delivery

Uber Eats is enhancing the grocery shopping experience by introducing an AI assistant designed to streamline the process of building shopping lists. Announced on Wednesday, this new feature allows users to create their shopping carts by inputting text or uploading images, including handwritten lists. Partnering with major retailers such as Safeway, Albertsons, and Kroger, the AI tool takes into account individual item preferences and the availability of products in-store. Customers can also modify their selections easily. Praveen Neppalli Naga, a technology executive at Uber, expressed that 'Cart Assistant embodies our approach to AI at Uber, focusing on real customer needs and developing practical in-app solutions.' He emphasized the importance of basing these features on genuine user behavior to create intuitive and helpful tools. As competition heats up in the food delivery sector, Uber and its counterparts have been rapidly integrating AI features to enhance services for both customers and businesses. Earlier this year, Uber introduced AI-driven tools for restaurants, offering capabilities like AI-generated menu descriptions and summaries of customer reviews. In a strategic move to expand their grocery delivery services, Uber and DoorDash have posed a direct challenge to Instacart. Both companies began providing grocery delivery in 2020, coinciding with the pandemic. Recently, Uber has broadened its partner network to include retailers such as Aldi and FreshDirect, adding five new stores just last week. Notably, the company reported a remarkable 26% increase in gross bookings for its delivery services, reaching $25.4 billion in the fourth quarter compared to the previous year.