At the Dash Forward keynote, DoorDash has unveiled a cute electric delivery robot named Dot that was designed specifically for quick neighborhood trips. Dot is around one-tenth the size of a car, can move up to 20 mph and can navigate not just roads, but also bike lanes and sidewalks. It’s small enough to fit through doorways and driveways and can help local businesses meet demand from people who prefer to shop from the comfort of their own homes. The robot was developed in-house by DoorDash Labs to integrate with the company’s new Autonomous Delivery Platform, an AI dispatcher that matches orders with the best delivery method.
“You don’t always need a full-sized car to deliver a tube of toothpaste or pack of diapers,” said Stanley Tang, the head of DoorDash Labs. “That’s the insight behind Dot.” To start with, the company is launching an early access program for Dot in Tempe and Mesa, Arizona. DoorDash said it’s the beginning of Dot’s commercial deployment and that the robot will make its way to new markets in the future.
The company has assured Dashers the Dot will not replace them. Human dashers will still handle the “vast majority” of its deliveries, and Dot is supposed to allow them to pick up the more high value ones while it fills in the gaps for local trips that don’t pay as much. DoorDash said that it needed to conjure up more “innovative ways to keep pace with demand” to support more local businesses and as it expands to new regions. It also previously teamed up with Coco Robotics to offer sidewalk robot deliveries in LA and Chicago, and it offers drone deliveries in Christiansburg, Virginia and Frisco, Texas.
