Grubhub ends driverless robot delivery partnership with Russia’s Yandex

People pass by a sign of Yandex company, a Russian internet search engine, at its headquarters in Moscow, December 2, 2014. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev

March 4 (Reuters) – Online food-ordering company Grubhub on Friday said it was ending a partnership with Russian tech giant Yandex NV (YNDX.O) for driverless robots that deliver food to college students.

The announcement came as Russian firms are being shunned globally over the invasion of Ukraine. Grubhub is a unit of Just Eat Takeaway.com NV (TKWY.AS), Europe’s largest meal delivery company.

The two firms had agreed a multiyear partnership in July, connecting Yandex’s autonomous delivery robots to Grubhub’s platform at select college campuses. read more

“We will be ending our partnership with Yandex,” Grubhub said in a statement. “We’re working with our campus partners on alternate service options as we shift away from Yandex over time.”

Grubhub did not mention Ukraine. Many companies have stopped doing business in Russia and with Russian firms because of the invasion, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”. read more

A spokesperson for Yandex confirmed the partnership was over but did not give any more details.

Editing by David Ljunggren and Jonathan Oatis

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