Uber Eats launches AI assistant to assist with grocery cart creation

Uber Eats announced a brand new AI function, “Cart Assistant,” on Wednesday designed to fill clients’ grocery carts sooner and simpler. The beta model is now out there within the app.​

To make use of the brand new chatbot, customers seek for a grocery retailer within the Uber Eats app and faucet the purple Cart Assistant icon on the shop’s web page to start buying. 

Clients can enter a listing or add a picture of 1, and Cart Assistant will robotically add the mandatory gadgets to their basket. This consists of photographs of handwritten lists or screenshots of recipes and their substances. Customers can then customise the basket by swapping gadgets for most well-liked manufacturers or including extra merchandise from the shop.​

Uber Eats notes that Cart Assistant makes use of earlier orders to prioritize acquainted gadgets — like your normal milk or favourite oatmeal — to make the expertise extra customized.​

“Customers have been telling us they wished a faster approach to store, and we all know how treasured your time is,” Uber CTO Praveen Neppalli Naga stated in a press release. “Cart Assistant helps you get from concept to checkout in seconds.”

Cart Assistant might assist Uber Eats higher compete with different meals supply and grocery apps which can be already integrating or creating AI chatbots.​ For instance, Instacart launched an AI search device powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT in 2023 to assist clients save time and obtain customized buying suggestions. DoorDash was additionally reportedly testing an AI chatbot known as DashAI that very same yr.​

Final yr, each Uber Eats and rival DoorDash built-in with ChatGPT to streamline meals ordering. With Uber Eats, U.S. customers can browse native eating places and menus in ChatGPT, then full their buy within the Uber Eats app. DoorDash’s integration permits customers to request meal plans and robotically add all obligatory substances to their DoorDash cart.

Notably, Bloomberg reported in 2023 that Uber Eats was creating an AI-powered chatbot that will supposedly ask customers about their funds and meals preferences, and assist them place an order.​

General, Uber Eats is quickly investing in AI, together with tools for merchants like AI-generated menu descriptions, enhanced meals photographs, and buyer assessment summaries.