Set the Table

New app makes dining at favorite Austin restaurants faster than ever

Allset is changing the way you dine out in Austin.

Photo courtesy of Allset

If you think finding a seat at Austin's hottest restaurants is hard, think again. Tuesday, April 11, marks the launch of Allset, a San Francisco-based service that takes the hassle out of dining out.

The concept is simple: Users can book a table, pre-order, and pre-pay for a meal before setting foot in the restaurant. That means your dining experience can take less than 30 minutes. Lunch, dinner, and brunch can be scheduled through the mobile app (for Android and iPhone), online, or even via Facebook Messenger.

The best part? The service is free for diners. Allset charges a small fee to the restaurants, but the benefits should outweigh the cost, as restaurants can target professionals who are short on time and businesses who want to easily, and quickly, schedule team meals.

"In recent years, more people have started eating and snacking in the office, rather than at restaurants. Restaurants keep losing diners to the rising popularity of delivery and catering services. We began working with Allset as we are looking for additional channels to attract diners, and we believe the wait-free service they help provide is highly valued by busy professionals," says Christi Tran, general manager of Maiko Sushi Lounge, in a release.

Allset is currently available in Austin at Aster's Ethiopian Restaurant, Coriander Indian Cuisine, Draft Pick, Gino's East, Gourdough's Public House, Il Forte, Madras Pavilion, Mai Thai, Maiko Sushi Lounge, Ola Poke, Papadom, Searsucker, Star of India, Taj Palace, and Zax Restaurant & Bar — the team expects at least 50 by the end of the first month.

"Our biggest challenge right now is to meet the growing user demand for more restaurants to be added to Allset. Eventually, when we grow up to thousands of participating restaurants per city, we believe Allset can do to in-restaurant dining what Uber did to transportation and Airbnb did to hospitality," says CEO Stas Matviyenko in a release.

In addition to Austin, Allset works with over 380 restaurants across San Francisco, Palo Alto, New York City, Chicago, and Boston, with plans to expand to six more cities by the end of the year.

Self-driving Roller Coaster

More self-driving cars expected to roll out in Austin for 2025

Photo courtesy of Waymo via KVUE

Various brands offering self-driving cars are on-and-off in Austin.

Expect to see more self-driving rideshare vehicles, also known as robotaxis, on Austin roads next year.

Robotaxi company Waymo, which you may have already seen on Austin's roads, is partnering with Uber. At some point next year, customers will be able to use the Uber app to call a self-driving ride.

Austin-based company Avride is in the testing phase and plans to roll out its robotaxis next year.

Currently, Volkswagen ADMT and Amazon's Zoox are in the testing phase in Austin, while Hyundai's Motional is in the mapping phase.

Last year, robotaxi company Cruise paused operations in Austin after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the company's permits to operate driverless vehicles in the state. And last week, General Motors said it would no longer fund the company because of the time and resources needed.

This way of getting around has come with its safety concerns and issues. The city is tracking those concerns. According to the Transportation Department, the problems span from blocking the roads and parking in front of people's homes for weeks with lights beaming through their windows, to actual wrecks.

Since July 2023, robotaxis have been involved in 75 incidents. Only 21 of those incidents happened in 2024. It's important to note that Cruise has not been operating in Austin this year.

Since July 2023, driverless rideshare vehicles have been involved in 22 near collisions, eight collisions and seven instances where driverless taxis ignored directions from the Austin Police Department (APD).

According to the data, at least four of those Austin police incidents happened in recent months. The issues varied from driving through police checkpoints, to malfunctioning and getting stuck at an APD road closure near pedestrians, causing safety concerns.

A Waymo spokesperson said their vehicles have gesture recognition capabilities, which they've been training APD officers on using.

As the report shows, sometimes it does not work and Waymo said it is working to improve that. The spokesperson said that as of just last week, Waymo's First Responder Program has been independently verified by TÜV SÜD, making Waymo the first autonomous vehicle (AV) company to receive third-party validation for our emergency response protocols. They also said the data to date indicates the Waymo Driver is already reducing traffic injuries and fatalities in the places where the company currently operates.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

traffic self-driving cars innovation