412 Food Rescue Leverages Technology to Tackle Food Insecurity

412 Food Rescue is utilizing technology to feed those in need within the communities that the organization functions. Proudly rescuing 21,293,707 pounds of food surplus, this volunteer food recovery organization redirects food from landfills to people in these cities facing food insecurity.

In 2015, the company was launched in Pittsburgh and has since grown to serve more than 25 cities across the U.S. and Canada including Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Northern Virginia, Los Angeles, Des Moines, Newark and Essex County, and Vancouver.

In only seven years, 412 Food Rescue has built itself to become the largest volunteer food recovery organization in the world.

With the model of giving food that would otherwise become waste to those in need becoming an increasingly popular concept. 412 Food Rescue remains ahead of the curve by leaning into technology in an unexpectedly simple way.

“412 Food Rescue has always aimed to modernize food recovery to make donating surplus food easier for businesses, and delivering that food immediately, making food access convenient for people in need,” said Leah Lizarondo, co-founder and CEO, 412 Food Rescue in a media release.

In order to minimize the need for volunteers who can sometimes be scarce, and maximize the amount of food saved from landfills and given to the hungry, 412 Food Rescue is testing out the potential of allowing self-driving cars to do all of the heavy lifting.

Using Pittsburgh as a trial run, the organization has partnered with Argo AI and Parkhurst Dining to develop the most efficient system for using autonomous cars to retrieve food surplus supplies and get it where it belongs, which is not the trash.

“We believe in using every tool in our technological toolbox to get food to people who need it, and we're excited to explore how one of the most innovative technologies we've seen in Pittsburgh can be used for good through our partnership with Argo” Lizarondo said.

Studying their tech in eight cities globally, Argo is collecting a huge amount of data on the use of self-driving cars as solutions to real world problems. Integrating 412 Food Rescues missions into the core uses of the technology Argo is perfecting pushes forward the limits for what the model of rescuing food waste for good causes can be.

Summer Fowler, Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer of Argo AI, said in a statement that the company “sees an opportunity for autonomous vehicles to offer reliable delivery of food donations to address food insecurity, and we are proud to launch this initiative with 412 Food Rescue and Parkhurst.”

As the Argo AI and 412 Food Rescue teams work towards a '"full-scale and efficiency-attuned" autonomous vehicle food rescue platform, all we can do is wait to see if this is a reliable use for self-driving cars in the future.