From TechCrunch: On Tuesday, DoorDash unveiled Dot, a small robot it built in-house that can autonomously drive on roads, bike lanes, and sidewalks to deliver food and small packages at speeds up to 20 miles per hour. Dot is designed to look friendly and even cartoonish — painted bright red, with big LED eyes and a mouth that swings open to reveal where it holds your food — though I’d argue it’s slightly creepy.
DoorDash says it’s already testing the robot with early access partners in the Phoenix metropolitan area, and plans to make it available to the region’s 1.6 million residents by the end of 2025.
It might sound odd for a food-delivery app like DoorDash to compete with trillion-dollar companies like Google and Tesla on autonomous vehicle (AV) technology. In San Francisco, Austin, and cities around the country, hailing a robotaxi is already commonplace for many residents. DoorDash argues that a similar reckoning is coming for the food delivery space, and that Dot’s size and design are key.
View: Full Article
