Recently, Uber Eats launched a new AI-powered feature to help customers create their online grocery carts more quickly, called Cart Assistant. It’s designed not only to make it quicker to shop for groceries online, but also to simplify the process. This move helps to strengthen Uber Eats’ position in the growing and competitive eGrocery industry.
Uber Eats Cart Assistant
In a recent blog post, Uber Eats introduced Cart Assistant. Powered by AI, this feature helps you build online grocery carts in less taps, saving you both time and effort in the process. The company says that users were looking for a faster way to shop, and this new feature prioritizes speed, getting you from idea to checkout in seconds.
Cart Assistant also learns over time, as it builds based on your past orders and prioritizes items you’re familiar with to ensure the experience is personalized on top of simply being quick.
The currently-available version of the feature is just the beta, and the company will continue to improve the service over time. Uber Eats also says that this feature is an early step in how the company is planning on using agentic AI to make positive differences for customers.
How Does Cart Assistant Work?
The way the Cart Assistant feature works is fairly straightforward. First, you search for your favorite grocery store on Uber Eats and then click the purple Cart Assistant to begin shopping. Next, type in your list or add an image, and the Cart Assistant will add the items to your basket. You can also add a screenshot of a shopping list or recipe, as well.
The feature will automatically take things like availability into account when building your cart, and will show all the details you need, such as prices and any available store promotions for you to take advantage of. Of course, before submitting the order, you’ll be able to edit the basket however you choose, whether that’s adding more items or swapping things out.
The Growth of Online Groceries
Whether it’s this new feature from Uber Eats or Amazon speeding up online grocery and other deliveries, large companies in the eGrocery space are focusing on improving the experience for online shoppers.
This makes sense, as eGrocery sales are increasing and hit an all-time high of $12.7 billion in December 2025, which was 32% higher than December 2024. Rapid growth like this signifies that more people than ever are comfortable shopping for groceries online, and that they’re doing it more frequently than in the past.
The massive growth in the space recently has led to increased competition amongst the leaders in the industry. With other platforms like InstaCart and DoorDash introducing AI-powered tools to speed up the purchasing process, it’s no surprise to see Uber Eats strengthen the company’s position with this new feature.
Overall, I feel this new feature from Uber Eats helps online grocery shoppers build their carts faster and with less effort. Also, as the feature begins to learn your favorites and items you commonly pick up over time, it’ll lead to even more time being saved in the future.
The move also makes sense from a business perspective, as it helps the company keep up with its peers in this competitive and growing eGrocery market landscape. As the company mentioned in the post, it also helps Uber Eats decide how to best use agentic going forward.
