Rapid delivery platform Just Eat has launched autonomous grocery delivery from Morrisons in Cambourne, Cambridgeshire.

The launch marks an expansion of Just Eat’s autonomous delivery robot trial, and the first time it has launched in a location where the business did not already offer grocery delivery.

Just Eat said that autonomous delivery is designed to compliment its existing delivery network where courier services are already available while offering the company a route to expand to areas “where traditional logistics services are more limited”. Cambourne is a town of 12,000 residents and is nine miles from Cambridge, its nearest city.

The robots are not intended to replace its existing courier workforce, it added.

The trial builds on what Just Eat described as “strong customer demand” in Sunderland and Milton Keynes, and uses Starship Technologies’s autonomous delivery robots. Starship has had an agreement in place with Cambridgeshire County Council since 2022 allowing it to operate in Cambourne.

The Cambourne Morrisons will become the fourth of its stores to offer robot deliveries, after three Morrisons Daily small-format stores in Sunderland and Milton Keynes.

Caroline Bates, Grocery & Retail Director for Just Eat said: “Our autonomous delivery trials are all about innovating to improve the customer experience, whether that's enabling us to offer delivery in new areas like Cambourne or increase delivery capacity and speeds in the run up to Christmas. We'll be listening closely to customer feedback on this new and exciting service.”

Autonomous delivery robots are not universally popular, however. A poll commissioned by charity Living Streets found that around 60 per cent of Britons oppose delivery robots using the pavement, while four in five are concerned about their impacts on those with mobility or sight issues.

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