Russia's Yandex driverless robots to deliver food at U.S. colleges with GrubHub

FILE PHOTO: Yandex.Rover, a driverless robot for delivering hot restaurant meals, is seen at a business district in Moscow, Russia December 10, 2020. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Driverless robots will soon deliver food to students on college campuses in the United States after Russian tech giant Yandex and online food-ordering company GrubHub agreed a multi-year partnership, Yandex said on Tuesday.

Sometimes described as Russia's Google, Yandex offers a raft of services, from advertising and search to ride-hailing and food delivery. It began testing autonomous delivery robots in 2019 and already operates at some locations in central Moscow and in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Yandex did not disclose the financial terms of the partnership.

"We are delighted to deploy dozens of our rovers, taking the next step in actively commercializing our self-driving technology in different markets across the globe," said Dmitry Polishchuk, CEO of Yandex Self-Driving Group.

Yandex's delivery robots will join GrubHub's platform, with the service to be made available at select college campuses this autumn. GrubHub partners with more than 250 college campuses across the United States.

"While college campuses are notoriously difficult for cars to navigate, specifically as it relates to food delivery, Yandex robots easily access parts of campuses that vehicles cannot — effectively removing a major hurdle universities face when implementing new technology," said Brian Madigan, vice president of corporate and campus partners at GrubHub.

The technology behind Yandex's delivery robots is the same that powers its self-driving cars.

(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Writing by Alexander MarrowEditing by Katya Golubkova and Lisa Shumaker)