DoorDash is expanding into sidewalk robot delivery in the US

DoorDash’s international arm Wolt has already been experimenting with Coco’s fleet of sidewalk robots in Helsinki, Finland. Now, DoorDash is linking up with sidewalk robot maker Coco to expand automated food deliveries to the US. It’s live in Los Angeles and Chicago with nearly 600 merchants set up to drop your lunch and other goods into the bellies of cute little icebox-looking bots.

In a press release, senior director of DoorDash Labs, Harrison Shih, says the Coco partnership is part of the company’s goal of becoming a “multi-modal” platform. “Not every delivery needs a 2-ton car just to deliver two chicken sandwiches,” said Shih. 

Besides standard human driver deliveries and Coco bots, the company is also trying drone deliveries with Alphabet’s Wing in the US and Australia. DoorDash has so far completed over 100,000 deliveries worldwide with Coco under its initial pilot phase.

Coco’s robot has already been rolling down the block in Los Angeles with DoorDash competitor Uber Eats, which has previously experimented with multiple robot makers like Cartken in Miami, Florida and Japan, as well as Avride in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Operating delivery robots isn’t without its difficulties. Companies like Serve Robotics, which also works with Uber Eats, have teams to monitor and help their cute little sidewalk couriers if they get stuck, or rescue them after people vandalize or try to steal from them.