DoorDash has partnered with Coco Robotics to launch an autonomous delivery service in Chicago and Los Angeles.
This builds on an existing pilot program with Wolt—DoorDash’s international arm, where Coco bots have been making deliveries in Helsinki, Finland, since earlier this year.
Customers can check the availability of Coco’s delivery bots and may have one assigned to their order from one of the 600 merchants via the DoorDash app.
“Not every delivery needs a 2-ton car just to deliver two chicken sandwiches,” said Harrison Shih, senior director of DoorDash Labs. “We believe the future of delivery will be multi-modal,” he added.
This isn’t the delivery giant’s first partnership for autonomous delivery. It previously partnered with Alphabet-owned Wing to launch drone deliveries in select U.S. markets.
DoorDash said its multi-modal strategy includes integrating Dashers (drivers), drones, and autonomous robots.
“This collaboration marks an important step forward in reshaping urban delivery in the U.S.,” said Zach Rash, co-founder and CEO of Coco Robotics.
Restaurants on board
Main Chick Hot Chicken in LA marks one of the restaurants on board with the program.
“We worked with Coco to establish a ‘taxi line’ of robots so we can get food out to our customers faster, even during our busiest hours,” said Eric Dela Cruz, owner of Main Chick Hot Chicken. “The improved operational efficiency translates directly into happier guests and stronger repeat business.”
Once the food’s ready, staff place it in the insulated box and lock it with a code. The bot rolls out, dodging obstacles along the way. When it arrives, the customer enters a code to grab their meal.
Coco has been operating in LA since 2020 and recently launched in Chicago and Miami. Along with DoorDash, it’s also partnered with Uber Eats.
Rash said they’ve spent the last few years fine-tuning their tech.
Now it has a fleet of over 1,000 robots and has made nearly 500,000 deliveries to date.
It also joins a handful of others deploying fleets of foodservice delivery robots. This includes Starship, Avride, Cartken, and Serve Robotics.
