(Credit: DoorDash)
If you live in Los Angeles or Chicago, your next DoorDash order may be delivered by a robot.
The food delivery platform has partnered with Coco, a robotics company, to deliver orders from nearly 600 merchants in the two cities. Eligible customers will be able to see the availability of Coco’s fleet and may get assigned one if they order from a participating restaurant.
Coco has been working with restaurants in Los Angeles since 2020 and recently launched in Chicago and Miami. The company has a fleet of 1,000 emission-free robots, and it entered a partnership with Uber Eats last year for select deliveries in Los Angeles. Coco robots can apparently navigate through the snow, a problem some vehicles have faced in harsher climates.
For DoorDash, robots are part of a long-term strategy that includes human drivers, drones, and autonomous robots. In a pilot phase with DoorDash, Coco completed over 100,000 deliveries.
“Not every delivery needs a 2-ton car just to deliver two chicken sandwiches,” said Harrison Shih, senior director of DoorDash Labs.
In March 2024, DoorDash began limited drone delivery tests in Christiansburg, Virginia. The pilot program uses Wing drones to deliver orders from Wendy’s, typically in 30 minutes or less.
DoorDash’s latest move comes as it is being sued by Uber Eats for unfair practices. According to Uber, DoorDash has been using its market dominance to force restaurants into accepting it as an exclusive partner for first-party deliveries or risk being demoted or removed from the app.