Tech Tracker: Uber sues DoorDash, alleging anti-competitive practicesTech Tracker: Uber sues DoorDash, alleging anti-competitive practices

Could there be an anticompetitive reason behind DoorDash’s dominance in the restaurant delivery space and ownership of more than two-thirds of the delivery market share? Uber is suing its largest competitor over an alleged “unlawful scheme to stifle competition,” with the company stating that DoorDash’s exclusive delivery contracts force operators to work only with DoorDash.

In other lawsuits involving third-party delivery companies, Uber and DoorDash typically stand together, defending their delivery fees, pricing, and business listing policies. This legal battle marks an unusual instance of one delivery giant suing another.

If Uber Eats’ legal claim is successful, it could create a challenge for DoorDash to maintain a firm foothold as the No. 1 food delivery company in the industry.

In other news this month, a new OpenAI tool can directly book restaurant reservations, and LG acquired a majority stake in Bear Robotics.

Tech Tracker rounds up what’s happening in the technology sector of the restaurant industry, including news from restaurants, vendors, digital platforms, and third-party delivery companies. Here’s a breakdown of what you need to know and why.

Why Uber is suing DoorDash

Uber filed a lawsuit against DoorDash on Feb. 14 in San Francisco County Court, accusing the company of participating in unlawful schemes, including “anticompetitive penalties and coercion” of existing Uber restaurant customers to leave their contracts with first-party delivery and enter into contracts with DoorDash instead.

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“DoorDash’s tactics include threatening multimillion-dollar penalties and/or to remove or demote 10 restaurants’ positions on the DoorDash App unless the restaurants agree to exclusive or near-exclusive use of DoorDash for behind-the-scenes first-party restaurant delivery,” the lawsuit says. “Restaurants simply cannot afford to stand up to DoorDash and find themselves powerless to choose the services that are best for their businesses in the market for first-party delivery.”

The lawsuit calls for DoorDash to pay damages and to stop the “unlawful and unfair conduct” immediately.

“We’ve increasingly heard complaints from restaurants that DoorDash’s tactics are limiting that freedom and punishing them for seeking better options,” Sarfraz Maredia, head of the Americas for delivery at Uber, said in a statement. “We hope this filing puts an end to those unfair practices so that restaurants can choose what’s best for them without fear of penalty or retribution.”   

For its part, DoorDash has denied any wrongdoing in response to the lawsuit.

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“Uber’s case has no merit,” a representative for DoorDash said in a statement. “Their claims are unfounded and based on their inability to offer merchants, consumers, or couriers a quality alternative.”

OpenAI can now book restaurant reservations

At the end of January, OpenAI announced a new AI-backed agent called Operator that can do its own research by opening a browser and completing tasks for users. Operator — which is currently only available for paid OpenAI users, and not the free version of Chat GPT — can be treated like a concierge and book travel plans, restaurant reservations, order groceries and food delivery, and more.

OpenAI said that it is collaborating with companies like DoorDash, Uber, OpenTable, and Instacart to launch this product.

“The ability to use the same interfaces and tools that humans interact with on a daily basis broadens the utility of AI, helping people save time on everyday tasks while opening up new engagement opportunities for businesses,” OpenAI said in the announcement of this new product.

Incept AI launches as new player in the voice AI race

With voice AI still the buzziest application of automation technology in the restaurant industry, the competition between top players is fierce.

Related:Pizza Hut launches redesigned mobile app for new generation

Incept AI is a new voice AI company that just announced the completion of a $3 million pre-seed round led by Rally Ventures, with participation from 10VC.

Incept AI claims to improve upon the technology of other voice AI companies by surpassing average accuracy rates through its proprietary Incept Neural Engine, which “ensures accurate order-taking without relying on staff or call centers.”

“Since its emergence during the pandemic, voice AI order-taking has struggled to meet its potential for restaurant operators seeking to optimize labor productivity, provide compelling recommendations, and maintain peak efficiency throughout the day,” Incept AI’s press announcement said. “Early solutions relied on Natural Language Understanding (NLU), which consistently failed to deliver high accuracy.”

The company said that it achieved 97% accuracy — a feat for many voice AI models — in May 2024 at the time of Incept AI’s launch.

LG acquires majority stake in Bear Robotics

LG Electronics announced at the end of January that the company had taken a majority stake in Bear Robotics, known for its lineup of service robots.

LG added an additional 30% stake in Bear Robotics, which follows the 21% investment the company initially made last year. With this increase in investment, LG will hold a controlling 51% stake in Bear Robotics, and LG’s commercial robot business, primarily the line of “LG CLOi Robots,” will be integrated with Bear Robotics.

“This additional investment underscores our dedication to positioning robots as a pivotal growth engine for the company, reflecting our belief in their inevitable role in the future,” LG Electronics chief strategy officer Sam-soo Lee said in a statement. “We will persist in driving innovation across all sectors of robotics, encompassing commercial, industrial, and home applications.”

Par Technology launches Par Ops for back-of-house cost savings

The back-of-the-house technology trend continues. Following the acquisition of restaurant analytics and business intelligence solution, Delaget, at the end of 2024, Par Technology announced the launch of Par Ops last month. The new tool offers “advanced analytics and loss prevention expertise” to help operators increase back-of-house savings with delivery data, forecasting, and franchisee loss prevention insights.

“Operators are juggling multiple systems that each provide valuable data, but they’re too busy running their business to make sense of it all,” Savneet Singh, CEO and president of Par Technology, said in a statement. “While front-of-house automation is important, we built Par Ops to be the workhorse behind the scenes. We turn all those siloed systems — from inventory to scheduling to delivery data — into actionable insights.”