DoorDash Gets In On Robot Deliveries With Uber Eats, Grubhub As Food Apps Eye Efficiency

DoorDash, Inc. (DASH) has partnered with Coco Robotics to deliver food orders in parts of Los Angeles and Chicago. This makes it the latest meal service to test non-human riders in the U.S.

The rollout follows a pilot program with Wolt, DoorDash’s international arm, in Helsinki, Finland, where Coco robots have been making deliveries since early this year.

“Not every delivery needs a 2-ton car just to deliver two chicken sandwiches,” Harrison Shih, a senior director of DoorDash Labs, said in a statement.

As part of the program, Coco robots will ply the sidewalks, delivering orders from nearly 600 DoorDash merchants who have signed up.

Coco has a fleet of about 1,000 delivery robots and has been operating in Los Angeles since 2020.

DoorDash said the move will help meet increasing demand while lowering costs and emissions.

Sidewalk robot delivery is an emerging competition point between delivery giants, as Uber Eats and Grubhub have expanded robotic deliveries through partnerships in recent years.

Last year, DoorDash partnered with Alphabet-unit Wing to deliver orders via drones in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

Wing also has delivery tie-ups with Walmart and Walgreens, while Amazon does drone deliveries in Texas and Arizona through its Prime Air program.

Investor interest in DASH has been strong since the company joined the S&P 500 index (SPX) last month.

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