LEEDS – THURSDAY 11 DECEMBER, 2025: Uber Eats and Starship Technologies are today launching autonomous robot deliveries in Leeds, just in time for the festive rush. The new fleet of green robots will help to deliver winter warmer meals and festive essentials for locals in the Headingley, Burley and Hyde Park areas of the city to enjoy this December and beyond.
The rollout is perfectly timed to help meet locals’ needs as the festive season approaches, offering a reliable new option for customers who are busy getting organised for Christmas or simply craving their favourite comfort food. Uber Eats today reveals that smash burgers, greek wraps, Pad Thai and chocolate chip cookie dough were among the most ordered dishes in Leeds this year, implying a high volume of the robots could be set to carry these local favourite takeaways.
“It’s brilliant to see autonomous innovation supporting one of our busiest times of year,” said Saskia de Jongh, EMEA General Manager at Uber. “It’s so exciting that our new global partnership with Starship Technologies will first launch in Leeds, meaning we can offer local customers a fast new way to get what they need delivered – whether that’s a piping hot Pad Thai or party food essentials.”
The robots will offer an innovative new way to connect more customers with Uber Eats merchants from Leeds over the busy season, supporting the city’s vibrant food scene. The robot fleet will be on hand to support seasonal spikes for on-demand ordering, with data showing a 200% increase in searches for pigs in blankets alone on Uber Eats across the UK last December*.
Starship’s battery-powered robots travel mainly on pavements and help to reduce local traffic congestion and emissions. The robots have saved over 700 tonnes of CO2 entering the atmosphere in Europe so far – with the average delivery using as little energy as it takes to boil a kettle for a cup of tea.
“We’re incredibly excited to be one of the first restaurants in Leeds to use Starship’s innovative delivery robots with Uber Eats, yet another exciting new adventure in the twenty years we’ve been running our restaurant” said Mark Burnard, Co-owner of Jino’s Thai Cafe in Leeds. “It’s a fantastic way to keep up with the demand for our much-loved dishes, especially our classic Pad Thai and any festive specials we roll out this winter. This cutting-edge technology will help us keep delivering more fresh, hot meals to our loyal customers.”
The robots are capable of completing deliveries in under 30 minutes for distances of up to 2 kilometres and operate at Level-4 autonomy, though someone is always overseeing them for assistance if needed. Having already completed over 9 million deliveries globally, Starship robots safely cross 125,000 roads per day around the world, come rain, snow or sunshine.
Ahti Heinla, Co-founder and CEO of Starship Technologies, said: We’re expanding our operations in Leeds from delivering groceries to now delivering hot food, and we’re proud to be partnering with Uber to make it happen. Christmas is a busy period, and our robots are ready to make life a little easier for everyone. Some of them are so excited they wanted to dress up as reindeer!”
Councillor Jonathan Pryor, Deputy Leader and Councillor for Headingley and Hyde Park, said: “The robots have been really popular in other parts of Leeds and have proven that we can reduce short car journeys and carbon emissions by embracing innovation. I’m really proud that Leeds is leading the way and that Uber Eats has chosen the city as its first European robot venture!”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
* Uber Eats internal data on the % change in searches made in December 2024 vs November 2024.
About Starship Technologies
Founded in 2014 by Ahti Heinla (chief architect of Skype) and Janus Friis (co-founder of Skype), Starship Technologies is the world’s #1 autonomous delivery company. With 9+ million deliveries completed and 2,700+ robots operating across 270+ locations in eight countries, Starship has built the largest autonomous delivery network globally.
About Uber
Uber’s mission is to create opportunity through movement. We started in 2010 to solve a simple problem: how do you get access to a ride at the touch of a button? More than 68 billion trips later, we’re building products to get people closer to where they want to be. By changing how people, food, and things move through cities, Uber is a platform that opens up the world to new possibilities.
