ℹ️ Quick Answer: The Uber Eats AI cart assistant is a new feature that automatically fills your grocery cart from a typed list, handwritten note photo, or recipe screenshot. It uses real time inventory, current prices, and your order history to pick the right items. Available now on iOS at stores like Kroger, Albertsons, and Aldi.
On February 11, 2026, Uber announced Cart Assistant, an AI powered feature inside the Uber Eats app that turns your entire grocery list into a filled cart in seconds. The Uber Eats AI cart assistant is the company’s biggest move yet into making grocery delivery feel less like a chore and more like something that actually saves you time.
How the Uber Eats AI Cart Assistant Actually Works
It’s surprisingly simple. Open the Uber Eats app, pick a grocery store, and tap the purple Cart Assistant icon. From there you’ve got three options.
- Type out your grocery list
- Snap a photo of a handwritten list stuck to your fridge
- Upload a screenshot of a recipe you want to cook
The AI reads your input and automatically matches items from that specific store’s inventory. It pulls real time pricing, applies current promotional offers, and even remembers your preferred brands from past orders. If your go to oat milk is out of stock, it suggests an alternative with the same size and dietary profile instead of leaving a gap in your cart.
Uber CTO Praveen Neppalli Naga put it plainly. “Cart Assistant reflects how we think about AI at Uber. Starting with real customer needs and building practical solutions within the app.” No flashy gimmick. Just less time tapping through search results. If you’re new to how AI tools work in everyday apps, this is a perfect example of the kind of practical stuff happening right now.
Which Stores Support the AI Cart Assistant
At launch, eight major retailers are on board. Albertsons, Aldi, CVS, Kroger, Safeway, Sprouts Farmers Market, Walgreens, and Wegmans. That covers a huge chunk of the U.S. grocery market.
There is one catch, it’s iOS only right now, with Android coming soon. Also U.S. only at launch. If you’re on an iPhone and shop at any of those stores, you can try it today.
The Competition Is Watching
This announcement didn’t happen in a vacuum. Instacart’s stock dropped more than 5% the same day. That’s a pretty clear signal that Wall Street sees Uber’s move as a real threat.
Instacart has had ChatGPT powered search since 2023, and DoorDash has been testing its own AI features with DashAI. Neither of those go as far as what Uber just shipped. The photo of a handwritten list feature alone feels like something pulled from a demo reel, except it’s actually live in the app right now.
Uber Eats delivery gross bookings already passed a $100 billion annual run rate, so they’ve got the scale to push this hard. Expect Instacart and DoorDash to accelerate their own AI features in the coming months. If you’re curious about how AI is changing the way we shop more broadly, I wrote a full breakdown in my AI shopping assistant guide.
What This Means for Your Grocery Runs
The biggest win here is time. That 40 minute ordeal I described earlier could realistically shrink to about 2 minutes. Snap a photo, review the cart, tweak a couple items, checkout. Done.
Uber also hinted at future plans for recipe inspiration and meal planning features built on top of Cart Assistant. Imagine telling the app you want to cook three dinners this week and having it fill your cart with everything you need across all three recipes. That’s where this is heading.
For now, the feature does one thing and it does it well. It takes the most annoying part of grocery delivery (building the cart item by item) and handles it for you. If you’ve got an iPhone and one of those eight stores delivers in your area, it’s worth a try this week. You might not go back to searching for “organic chicken thighs” one ingredient at a time.
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