Jul 27 2026 When food rescue meets autonomous delivery: inside RLC's first robot food rescue. Food rescue has always been about one simple idea: getting perfectly good food to people instead of landfills. For more than a decade, Rescuing Leftover Cuisine (RLC) has built a network of food businesses, nonprofit organizations, and volunteer rescuers working together to make that happen every day. But as food rescue grows, so does an important question: How can Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, Inc. make food recovery even more efficient? Recently, RLC partnered with autonomous delivery company Avride to complete its first robot-assisted food rescue in Jersey City. Why technology matters in food rescue. One of the biggest misconceptions about food waste is that the challenge is producing enough food. In reality, millions of pounds of perfectly edible food are discarded every year while nonprofits continue working to meet growing demand in their communities. The challenge isn't always the food, it's the logistics. Every food rescue requires coordination between a food donor, transportation, and a nonprofit partner. Sometimes those pickups need to happen quickly before food can no longer be safely donated. Technology can help simplify that process. While autonomous delivery won't replace the volunteers and community partners that make food rescue possible, it has the potential to make certain rescues faster, more flexible, and easier to coordinate. Its first autonomous food rescue. Working alongside Avride, RLC completed its first autonomous food rescue using a delivery robot to transport surplus food. The pilot demonstrated how emerging technology can support existing food rescue operations by helping move donated food safely and efficiently between partners. While this was one rescue, it represents something much larger: exploring new tools that can strengthen food recovery systems as cities continue looking for innovative ways to reduce food waste. At RLC, Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, Inc. is excited to continue exploring innovations that make food donation easier for businesses and more reliable for nonprofit partners. Because every improvement to the food rescue process means more meals served, less food wasted, and stronger communities. Help rescue more food. Whether you're a business with surplus food, a nonprofit organization serving your community, or someone interested in supporting food rescue, you can help keep good food out of landfills. Together, Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, Inc. can build a future where food is valued, communities are nourished, and less goes to waste. Interested in donating surplus food or partnering with Rescuing Leftover Cuisine? Contact its team or explore its website to learn how you can get involved.

Avride delivery robots to debut at BGSU, Grubhub to become new ordering platform. BGSU and Avride agreed to a partnership that will bring 30 delivery robots to the University beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. (BGSU photo / Craig Bell) BGSU becomes the fourth university nationally to sign with Avride, a leader in autonomous technology Bowling Green State University will partner with Avride to bring new delivery robots to campus, which will bring expanded options for BGSU students during the 2026-27 academic year. The introduction of Avride's delivery robots will provide the BGSU learning community with more choices - both in forms and payment and overall food and drink options - and improved technology. Key Highlights New partner: Avride Ordering platform: Grubhub Scheduled to be online: Aug. 17 Next level. Avride robots are about double the capacity of the previous on-campus robots, allowing for expanded choices, including large pizzas. Advanced tech. Using tech pioneered in autonomous driving, Avride delivery robots have a 360-degree view and they are equipped with LiDAR, which makes them highly accurate, even at night. More ways to pay. Grubhub's functionality will allow BGSU faculty, students and staff to make on-campus deliveries using their meal plans, Falcon Dollars or BG1 Bucks in addition to credit and debit cards. "This is a major improvement to a service that a lot of students and faculty really enjoyed. Avride's business model, their design and their integration with Grubhub provide a better system for both BGSU Dining and the people who are using the robots." JON ZACHRICH BGSU DINING Cleared for arrival. New Avride delivery robots. Avride delivery robots will provide increased capacity, better technology and more options to pay. How often do you use food delivery apps? New Avride delivery robots are coming to Bowling Green State University for the 2026-27 academic year, bringing expanded delivery options, larger capacity and a globally recognized mobile ordering platform in Grubhub. The partnership will create better integration with BGSU meal plans, Falcon Dollars and BG1 Bucks in addition to accepting credit and debit cards. Through Grubhub, the learning community will have more on-campus options, including mobile ordering at Starbucks using a meal plan. Avride, a leader in autonomous driving technology, will replace Starship, which earlier this year ended all of its college and university contracts. Avride is scheduled to be active and ready to debut at BGSU on Aug. 17, making the University the fourth nationally to sign with the company. Jon Zachrich, the director of marketing, communications and technology for BGSU Dining, said the partnership represents an upgrade for the University community, which will see more choices and better efficiency. "This is a major improvement to a service that a lot of students and faculty really enjoyed," Zachrich said. "Avride's business model, their design and their integration with Grubhub provide a better system for both BGSU Dining and the people who are using the robots." The introduction of Avride's delivery robots will provide the BGSU learning community with more choices - both in forms and payment and overall food and drink options - and improved technology. The hatch of the Avride delivery robots is large enough to hold six extra-large (16.5-inch) pizzas and five 1.5-liter bottles at a time, about double the capacity of the previous delivery robots on campus. The machines are operator-friendly and active more than 98% of the time. They also do not gather personal data - their cameras blur faces - their sensors create a 360-degree view and they are equipped with LiDAR, which uses pulsed lasers to create 3D modeling from up to 200 feet away, even without sunlight. "From a capacity standpoint, we can deliver more, which is really nice, and Avride uses an active LiDAR system rather than just sensors, so they are a lot safer and smoother," Zachrich said. "Avride was originally based on autonomous driving, so they were able to take a lot of that technology and create really safe robots. It's a better technology robot, which we're excited about." At first, BGSU will have 30 delivery robots that will limit deliveries to on-campus locations to optimize their efficiency, but the University could expand the operation over time. "We want to make sure the on-campus experience is flawless for our students before we move to the next stop of a possible expansion," Zachrich said. "Grubhub should provide a much better system and app architecture, and the actual robots themselves are larger and safer. These are significantly better from an experiential point of view." Students also will have access to Grubhub Premium when they sign up with their BGSU email address, which will waive delivery fees on eligible orders over $12 and offer a 5% pickup credit. Other deliveries will be a flat fee rather than a percentage, a cost-saving change from prior years. When the fall semester begins, Zachrich said the new platform should seamlessly integrate with life at BGSU. "Across the board, everybody is winning with this partnership," Zachrich said. "We're excited to see an upgraded experience." Media Contact Michael Bratton | [email protected] | 419-372-6349 Updated: 07/23/2026 07:09PM

Has robotaxi begun to scale? This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Tesla increasing their robotaxi inventory in Texas, a controversial autonomous vehicle bill in Washington DC, Uber's acquisition of Delivery Hero, and WeRide's global expansion strategies. Data from the Texas DMV shows that Tesla has 175 robotaxis registered in Texas, a quadrupling in just six weeks from 42 on June 1st. This is a trend that is not isolated to Texas, as Grayson has noted in his Robotaxi Miami Field Report that Tesla is also ramping up operations in that market as well. In Washington DC, a new district bill introduced by Councilmember Charles Allen aims to update the 2012 AV Act to allow commercial autonomous operations. However, the bill introduces highly restrictive mandates, including a requirement for autonomous vehicle operators to log over 250,000 testing miles within the district before receiving a commercial permit that could lead to regulatory capture for incumbents. Shifting to the delivery sector, Uber made a major move by earmarking approximately €2 billion through 2031 for European expansion, explicitly including autonomous vehicle initiatives alongside its acquisition of Delivery Hero. Meanwhile, Uber's autonomous delivery partner, Avride, launched sidewalk street robot operations in Miami via Uber Eats, having already completed 60,000 trips. On the Foreign Autonomy Desk, Grayson and Walt discuss WeRide's global Level 2++ on-road validation testing alongside Bosch in Germany, France, and Japan. Additionally, government data from Hong Kong reveals that 63 autonomous driving licenses have been issued across seven companies, with Baidu logging 149,129 miles with safety drivers on pre-approved roads. Closing out the show Grayson and Walt analyze Baidu's expansion into Kazakhstan and predict local robotaxi manufacturing could begin there within the next 12 to 18 months. Episode chapters. * 0:00 Tesla's Growing Robotaxi Fleet * 4:52 Washington DC's Autonomous Vehicle Bill * 12:03 Uber Acquires Delivery Hero and Bets on Autonomous Delivery * 18:07 Lucid's Selloff and the Nuro Partner Risk * 23:19 WeRide's Level 2++ Expansion * 24:57 Foreign Autonomy Desk * 27:10 Next Week The future is bright. The future is autonomous. The future is The Road to Autonomy. Join institutional investors and industry leaders who read This Week in The Autonomy Economy every Sunday. Each edition delivers exclusive insight and commentary on the autonomy economy, helping you stay ahead of what's next.