Dev builds app that orders food and Ubers him to a random location, and the results are nuts

Developer Max Goodman, who has previously worked on interactive features for the wildly popular Web comic XKCD, had an interesting idea for the recent Stupid Hackathon in San Francisco.

With one click, Goodman’s browser-based app, Picnic, orders food to be delivered to a randomly selected location and then hails an Uber to drive you there.

On his first run, Picnic took Goodman somewhere in Daly City and ordered him Dolmas, coconut water, and a Lebanese omelette. The destination, which showed up briefly on his computer as a Google Street View preview image, turned out to be a gas station.

@chromakode mmmmmmm pic.twitter.com/tGimFB9Lrr

— Max Goodman (@chromakode) May 15, 2016

But that’s not to say the whole thing went off without a hitch.

My picnic seat pic.twitter.com/m2JIp6KQDU

— Max Goodman (@chromakode) May 15, 2016

The 💜 of EU tech

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!

Goodman played along with the whole thing, from hopping off at the gas station to using a lamp post’s concrete base as a seat, to asking around nearby establishments for cutlery (his order didn’t come with spoons or forks) and enjoying the entire trip, which you can follow in this Twitter Moments story.

I got caught stealing plastic cutlery from a hotel

— Max Goodman (@chromakode) May 15, 2016

While the idea seems downright absurd, it might be a good way to figure out a date or group outing, when everyone involved can’t decide on where to go and what to eat.

Goodman tweeted that he’s cleaning up the code for Picnic and will publish it on GitHub for others to toy with soon, so hopefully we’ll all be able to go on random lunchtime adventures this week.

Update: It’s here! Good luck on your adventures… or misadventures. Keep us posted with your results!