Photo: Yandex
It’s not just aircraft and ships that are being banned from accessing Europe and the U.S., but also the seemingly-innocent Russian food-delivery robots. That’s because these particular ones are made by one of Russia’s largest and most powerful companies in the tech industry.
More and more institutions, organizations, and various entities are showing their solidarity with war-torn Ukraine by cutting any ties with Russian-owned or controlled vehicles of any kind. This includes autonomous robots. The University of Arizona’s Student Union announced that it will be continuing its collaboration with food delivery operator Grubhub, as long as it will find a robot delivery alternative for the one that was used until now.
Since 2021, Grubhub has been using Yandex robots for food delivery services at U.S. university campuses, such as the University of Arizona. At the time, Grubhub was stating that robots are a better choice because they can access parts of the campuses that are difficult to reach by car.
The Yandex autonomous robots were described as being able to navigate pavements, pedestrian areas, and crosswalks. Plus, they could operate at night time as well as during the day, and even in challenging weather conditions, such as rain and snowfall.
Yandex, a multi-national public traded company, is considered the number one Google alternative in Russia, and one of the biggest tech companies in the world, offering an extensive range of online services, including a search engine and maps.
Its autonomous robots, or rovers, have been successfully operating in Russia since the end of 2020 through the company’s own food delivery platform. Plus, towards the end of 2021, the tech giant also announced that it was getting closer to launching ride-sharing services using robotaxis.
But all that came to a halt as a result of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The University of Arizona is not the only one to have ceased doing business with Yandex. The Ohio State University did that as well. According to azcentral.com, Grubhub is now working on alternative services solutions to the Russian autonomous robots.
Since 2021, Grubhub has been using Yandex robots for food delivery services at U.S. university campuses, such as the University of Arizona. At the time, Grubhub was stating that robots are a better choice because they can access parts of the campuses that are difficult to reach by car.
The Yandex autonomous robots were described as being able to navigate pavements, pedestrian areas, and crosswalks. Plus, they could operate at night time as well as during the day, and even in challenging weather conditions, such as rain and snowfall.
Yandex, a multi-national public traded company, is considered the number one Google alternative in Russia, and one of the biggest tech companies in the world, offering an extensive range of online services, including a search engine and maps.
Its autonomous robots, or rovers, have been successfully operating in Russia since the end of 2020 through the company’s own food delivery platform. Plus, towards the end of 2021, the tech giant also announced that it was getting closer to launching ride-sharing services using robotaxis.
But all that came to a halt as a result of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The University of Arizona is not the only one to have ceased doing business with Yandex. The Ohio State University did that as well. According to azcentral.com, Grubhub is now working on alternative services solutions to the Russian autonomous robots.
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