Editor’s Note: This article was updated Aug. 6 to include statements and updated information from Avride.
It took only one month after Starship Technologies halted autonomous delivery operations at U.S. colleges and universities for robots from Texas-based competitor Avride to start appearing on some of those campuses.
Bowling Green State University in Ohio quickly emerged as one of the earliest campus partners to make that shift, welcoming Avride robots to begin navigating potential delivery routes in July. Starship pulled its fleet from the campus shortly after the spring semester concluded following six years of autonomous delivery services, according to the school’s student-led publication.
Avride’s autonomous robots completed more than 600,000 deliveries as of late July.
Avride’s entrance into BGSU came through a master services agreement with Chartwells Higher Education, according to a press release last month. The dining services provider manages foodservice operations at about 350 U.S. campus partners and, until June, offered autonomous delivery through an agreement with Starship.
While Starship cited a pivot of focus to grocery delivery as the reason for shifting away from its campus operations, Avride’s head of communications, Laura Lawton, said universities and dining partners continued to display strong demand.
“In the last few years robots have become a commodity on campuses, and students have become accustomed to them,” Lawton said in a statement to Food On Demand. “When a campus is left without robots for whatever reason, the university will (be) looking for a partner who can deliver high-quality service from day one. And that’s what Avride has done.”
Jon Zachrich, BGSU Dining’s director of marketing, communications and technology, considered the change from Starship to Avride as “a major improvement” to the campus’s popular autonomous delivery program.
“Avride’s business model, their design and their integration with Grubhub provide a better system for both BGSU Dining and the people who are using the robots,” Zachrich said in a July 26 release from the university, adding the new robots are “safer and smoother.”
Avride plans to launch delivery services at BGSU Aug. 17, ahead of the coming fall semester. The company anticipates additional launches at campuses across the U.S. through its partnership with Chartwells before year’s end.
“Technology is most valuable when it solves a real need and makes the campus experience better,” Eva Woktalewski, Chartwells Higher Ed CEO, said in a release. “Avride understands the complexities of campus environments, and we look forward to working together to introduce autonomous delivery thoughtfully, in ways that support each university’s goals and create meaningful value for its campus community.”
Avride announced autonomous delivery at Salisbury University in Maryland in February.
The Chartwells partnership demonstrates Avride’s efforts to further expand into the U.S. campus scene, adding to an existing list of university and college partners that includes The Ohio State University, the University of Arizona, Indiana University Bloomington and Salisbury University. Ohio State represents the firm’s largest campus delivery deployment, with more than 100 robots operating daily.
“Every campus is unique, but our deployment process generally follows the same framework,” Lawton said of deployment timelines. “We begin by mapping the campus environment and validating routes for safe autonomous operation. From there, we work closely with university leadership and dining partners to integrate ordering workflows, identify pickup and delivery locations, establish operational procedures and complete testing before launch.”
While timelines for launching campus services vary depending on campus size, infrastructure and operational requirements, Lawton said it can take as little as 2-3 weeks.
“Students expect campus services to be as convenient as the rest of their daily lives, but universities also need solutions that are practical to operate at scale,” Dmitry Polishchuk, CEO at Avride, said in a release. “This agreement with Chartwells gives us a strong path to bring Avride robot delivery to more campuses in a way that supports dining teams, improves access for students, and fits naturally into how people move around campus every day.”
