On ride-hailing app InDrive, riders and drivers have to do something many Uber users have never done: negotiate the price of a ride. Instead of accepting the trip price set by the app, passengers can submit their ride request along with a proposed payment amount. Drivers can then view the proposal and accept it or send a counteroffer.
When delivery units operated by companies like Coco or Serve Robotics run into real-world obstacles - like a garden, for example - these robot wranglers spring into action, freeing them from potholes, helping them upright after a fall, and ferrying them back to headquarters for maintenance.
Our customers are busier than ever and are looking for new ways to save time while keeping their households running. We saw an opportunity to use our unique operational expertise and delivery network to help make customers' lives a little easier while unlocking even more value for Prime members.
Whole Foods shelves sit empty after a data breach shut down its wholesale distributor. Meat packers working for JBS Foods are paralyzed as an $11 million ransomware attack takes out their processing facilities. Some 2.2 million workers at Stop & Shop and Hannaford have their personal data exposed as the result of a cyberattack on parent company Ahold Delhaize USA. These scenarios, straight from a William Gibson novel, are becoming increasingly common in supply chains across the world.
Deepinder Goyal, the co-founder and CEO of food delivery service Zomato and its parent Eternal, is stepping down from his role and handing the top job to Albinder Dhindsa, the CEO of its quick-commerce division Blinkit. Goyal on Wednesday said he would remain on Eternal's board as vice chairman as he shifts focus to "higher-risk exploration and experimentation," which he says may be harder to pursue within the constraints of a listed company.
We wanted to create a fun space. It is kind of inspired by all the parts that are related to the brand. For instance, the factory: if you buy a product, there's like a production line where the product comes out. We also show machines where phones go through testing, like USB port testing or water resistance testing. So we just wanted to bring that world together,
The Hidden Cost of Poor Airport Transport Planning Missed pickups, last-minute cancellations, surge pricing, and unreliable availability can all disrupt carefully planned business schedules. Searching for a Taxi Near Me just hours before departure may work occasionally, but for executives heading to important meetings, uncertainty is not an option. Public transport delays, airport parking fees, fuel costs, and lost preparation time all add up. For SMEs managing tight budgets, these inefficiencies are more than inconvenient-they affect both financial performance and professional reputation.
Uber Eats might end up playing a key role in its parent company's robotaxi business, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said. The ride-hailing app is working with multiple companies, such as Alphabet-backed Waymo, to make self-driving cars available through its app. Waymo's robotaxis have already proven more efficient than most human Uber drivers in cities such as Atlanta and Austin, Uber has said.
You can always go out to eat, but what if you want to stay in the comfort of your own home? Alternatively, you could have a sad, single-ingredient dinner, like a bowl of popcorn, that won't leave you feeling full for very long. Or you could use a restaurant delivery service like DoorDash. This option brings basically whatever meal you want directly to your door, so you can sit back and wait for your food to arrive.
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's page to begin shopping. Customers can enter a list or upload an image of one, and Cart Assistant will automatically add the necessary items to their basket. This includes photos of handwritten lists or screenshots of recipes and their ingredients. Users can then customize the basket by swapping items for preferred brands or adding more products from the store.
Dr Lucie Nield, co-lead investigator from the University of Sheffield, said: People deserve greater transparency about the food they are ordering online, and these businesses must be held to the appropriate regulatory standards. Without this, dark kitchens risk falling through the gap, with potential consequences for public health, particularly by encouraging increased use of online takeaways, greater availability and therefore greater consumption of high fat, salt or sugar food.
That's a problem. Without a doubt, a great website and top-level marketing will help generate new sales, but it's the delivery experience that warrants future ones. This is because today's consumer not only has options for where they'll buy but also a high set of expectations. What's more, they remember the way a product arrives at their doorstep more than how it was sold.
On her smartphone map, she watched the tiny dot scurrying toward her Fort Lauderdale address in real time. Then her phone buzzed with an alert: "Your food delivery robot is here!" Karla Joan Nelson-Thatcher raced downstairs to the sidewalk outside her Veneto Las Olas apartment and found, waiting near the front steps, what resembled a 3-foot-tall picnic basket on wheels with glowing Pac-Man eyes.
Claude - or "Claudius," as its vending persona was known, but we'll stick to the former for the sake of clarity - had pretty much free reign to accomplish its goal. It was allowed to research products, set prices, and even contact outside distributors, with a team of humans at the AI safety firm Andon Labs handling the physical tasks like restocking. Meanwhile, it also fielded requests from employees in a Slack channel, who asked for everything from chocolate drinks to the street drug methamphetamine to broadswords.
Brick-and-mortar and online retail shoppers want more personal experiences, more convenience and more products that fit their values - and small business owners are meeting those needs as they evolve. With AI leveling the playing field and trends like social commerce, resale and wellness booming, 2026 is full of opportunity for business owners who are ready to start their own business.
Urban logistics is entering a new era where practical technology drives meaningful results. Today, more than 55% of people live in cities, and urbanization is expected to rise to 68% by 2050, placing intense pressure on delivery networks to keep up with growing demand. U.S. e-commerce is projected to reach $1.1 trillion in sales by 2026, heightening expectations for faster and more reliable last-mile service.
.Most e-commerce returns stem from guessing; personalized marketing builds shopper confidence.(photo credit: Courtesy of GetSelene.AI)By TAMI DEMSKY For ecommerce operators, returns have become a structural profit leak that hits in three ways: shipping and processing costs, inventory stuck in limbo, and the long-term damage to trust that lowers repeat purchase rates. The scale is significant. Retailers estimate that 15.8 percent of annual sales will be returned in 2025, totaling approximately $849.9 billion, according to the National Retail Federation and Happy Returns .