Yandex Partners with Grubhub for Autonomous In-Campus Food Delivery

Yandex (YNDX) Self-Driving Group (SDG) is moving a step closer to commercializing its self-driving technology. The company has inked a partnership deal with online and mobile food ordering services, Grubhub (GRUB). The two are coming together to enable fast and affordable deliveries using robots in U.S. colleges.

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Yandex autonomous robots will be integrated into Grubhub’s food delivery platform for in-campus delivery as part of the partnership. The two are in the process of rolling out delivery by autonomous robots at select campuses starting this fall. The robots have been configured to navigate pavements and pedestrian areas with ease, making them ideal for campus delivery.

CEO of Yandex SDG, Dmitry Polishchuk, said “We chose to partner with Grubhub for campus delivery because of Grubhub’s unparalleled reach into college campuses across the United States…We are delighted to deploy dozens of our rovers, taking the next step in actively commercializing our self-driving technology in different markets across the globe.’’

The Yandex SDG delivery service is integrated fully into the Grubhub app. Consequently, diners will receive a push notification when the delivery robot approaches its final destination. To collect a meal, diners will just have to open the rovers hatch via their Grubhub app to receive an order. (See Yandex stock chart on TipRanks)

Grubhub expects the partnership to enhance the way students in college order food and have deliveries made to their doorstep.

Grubhub VP of Corporate, Brian Madigan, stated, “While college campuses are notoriously difficult for cars to navigate, specifically as it relates to food delivery, Yandex robots easily access parts of campuses that vehicles cannot — effectively removing a major hurdle universities face when implementing new technology.”

Last month, BofA Securities analyst Cesar Tiron reiterated a Buy rating on Yandex but raised his price target to $85 from $80, implying 20.14% upside potential to current levels.

Consensus among analysts is a Strong Buy based on 3 Buys. The average Yandex price target of $86.83 implies 22.73% upside potential to current levels.

YNDX scores an 8 out of 10 on TipRanks’ Smart Score rating system, indicating that the stock has strong potential to outperform market expectations.