Uber Eats launches AI assistant to help create grocery cart

Uber Eats announced a new artificial intelligence feature, called “Cart Assistant,” on Wednesday, designed to fill customers’ grocery carts faster and easier. The trial version is now available in the app

To use the new chatbot, users search for a grocery store in the Uber Eats app and tap the purple Cart Assistant icon on the store page to start shopping.

Customers can enter a list or upload a photo of one, and the shopping cart assistant will automatically add the necessary items to their cart. This includes images of handwritten menus or screenshots of recipes and their ingredients. Users can then customize the basket by swapping out items with favorite brands or adding more products from the store

Uber Eats notes that Cart Assistant uses previous orders to prioritize familiar items — like your usual milk or favorite oatmeal — to make the experience more personalized.​

“Users told us they wanted a faster way to shop, and we know how valuable your valuable time is,” Praveen Nepali Naga, Uber’s chief technology officer, said in a statement. “Shopping Cart Assistant helps you go from concept to checkout in seconds.”

Cart Assistant could help Uber Eats better compete with other food and grocery delivery apps that are already integrating or developing AI-powered chatbots. For example, Instacart launched an AI search tool powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT in 2023 to help customers save time and receive personalized shopping recommendations. DoorDash was also reportedly testing an AI chatbot called DashAI that same year

Last year, both Uber Eats and its competitor DoorDash integrated with ChatGPT to simplify the food ordering process. With Uber Eats, users in the US can browse local restaurants and menus in ChatGPT, then complete their purchase in the Uber Eats app. The DoorDash integration allows users to order meal plans and automatically add all necessary ingredients to their DoorDash cart.

Notably, Bloomberg reported in 2023 that Uber Eats was developing an AI-powered chatbot that would supposedly ask users about their budget and food preferences, and help them place an order.

Overall, Uber Eats is rapidly investing in AI, including tools for merchants such as AI-generated menu descriptions, enhanced food photos, and customer review summaries.