DoorDash unveils Dot, its autonomous robot built to deliver your food

On Tuesday, DoorDash unveiled Dot, a tiny robot it built in-house that tin autonomously thrust connected roads, motorcycle lanes, and sidewalks to present nutrient and tiny packages astatine speeds up to 20 miles per hour. Dot is designed to look affable and adjacent cartoonish — painted agleam red, with large LED eyes and a rima that swings unfastened to uncover wherever it holds your nutrient — though I’d reason it’s somewhat creepy.

DoorDash says it’s already investigating the robot with aboriginal entree partners successful the Phoenix metropolitan area, and plans to marque it disposable to the region’s 1.6 cardinal residents by the extremity of 2025.

It mightiness dependable unusual for a food-delivery app similar DoorDash to vie with trillion-dollar companies similar Google and Tesla connected autonomous conveyance (AV) technology. In San Francisco, Austin, and cities astir the country, hailing a robotaxi is already commonplace for galore residents. DoorDash argues that a akin reckoning is coming for the nutrient transportation space, and that Dot’s size and plan are key.

The stakes are precocious for this little, cute (terrifying?) robot. Countless startups person flamed retired successful the AV space, with immoderate adjacent facing penalties and fines erstwhile their machines caused harm. Robotaxis person besides go a awesome for Silicon Valley’s broader automation propulsion — and a people for nationalist anger. Waymos person been vandalized connected metropolis streets, and it’s casual to ideate Dots becoming the adjacent awesome of that tension.

DoorDash unveils Dot astatine its San Francisco headquarters. (Credit: Maxwell Zeff)

On Monday astatine the company’s San Francisco headquarters, DoorDash co-founder Stanley Tang told reporters that autonomous transportation successful suburbs and cities could go a ample market. Tang said a cardinal to transportation robots is navigating “the archetypal and past 10 feet,” referring to picking up and dropping disconnected deliveries. Sidewalk robots, specified arsenic those developed by companies similar Serve Robotics, code this situation of negotiating choky spaces, but they can’t thrust connected roads oregon astatine precocious speeds similar Dot can.

“You don’t ever request a full-sized car to present a conduit of toothpaste oregon battalion of diapers,” said Tang. “Dot is purpose-built for the millions of deliveries we facilitate each day. It is tiny capable to navigate doorways and driveways, accelerated capable to support nutrient quality, and astute capable to optimize the champion routes for delivery.”

Dot has 4 wheels and stands little than 5 feet gangly and 3 feet wide. It’s astir a tenth the size of a car and weighs 350 pounds. Press a fastener connected what tin lone beryllium described arsenic Dot’s “mouth,” and capable cargo abstraction is revealed to acceptable six pizza boxes oregon up to 30 pounds of food. There are assorted inserts that merchants tin enactment wrong of a Dot to conscionable their needs, including cupholders and coolers.

One of the inserts wrong Dot’s cargo abstraction (Credit: DoorDash)

There’s besides an LED portion connected apical of the conveyance to show text, and speakers that tin emit a robotic voice. DoorDash says there’s adjacent a microphone connected Dot, which could 1 time beryllium utilized to facilitate AI-powered conversations betwixt customers and Dot.

Each portion runs connected an interchangeable artillery that tin beryllium charged separately. The institution says this was a cardinal plan diagnostic to decouple retention and charging of the vehicles.

For navigation, Dot uses 8 outer cameras, alongside 4 radar and 3 lidar sensors to observe obstacles. DoorDash says the cameras are hooked up to a real-time AI exemplary that combines heavy learning and hunt based algorithms to find the champion way to customers.

A fleet of Dots (Credit: DoorDash)

The institution has spent the past 7 years gathering toward Dot. Back successful 2019, DoorDash acquired the AV startup Scotty Labs, and brought connected the co-founders of different AV mapping startup, Lvl 5. In 2021, the institution hired Ashu Rege, a erstwhile enforcement astatine the Amazon-owned AV institution Zoox, to pb its autonomy division.

In an interrogation with TechCrunch, Rege says that DoorDash’s aboriginal conversations with lawmakers regarding Dot person been positive. He says metropolis and authorities officials person touted tiny conveyance transportation arsenic a mode to trim postulation congestion.

Human transportation workers whitethorn beryllium little enthusiastic. In a property release, DoorDash says humans volition inactive fulfill a immense bulk of their regular orders, portion automation volition fto immoderate “focus much connected the high-value orders that necessitate quality judgement and care.”

Another hurdle for Dot is safety. Rege says Dot is trained to beryllium deferential to bicyclists and pedestrians, portion being ample capable to beryllium disposable to drivers.

If a Dot runs into occupation connected the road, Rege says Dots cannot beryllium remotely operated by humans. DoorDash believes teleoperation isn’t the close attack for Dot, and instead, trains it to simply hold and propulsion implicit to the broadside of the roadworthy (though that’s easier said than done successful immoderate cases). Rege says a tract relation volition beryllium dispatched to the Dot’s determination successful superior circumstances.

In Phoenix, DoorDash has created an ecosystem to enactment its tiny fleet of Dots: warehouses to store the robots, charging stations to capable up their batteries, and tract operators to cleanable and rescue them. Rege declined to disclose headcount oregon costs for this ecosystem.

Much similar radical person vandalized Waymos, it seems apt that radical volition effort to messiness with Dots. DoorDash says it included a camera wrong Dot’s cargo space, partially to guarantee tiny humans don’t ascent inside. Dot is besides airy capable to beryllium tipped implicit by a fewer people, but Rege says tract operators tin flip them backmost upright if that ever happens.

While Dot whitethorn look playful, it’s a superior and monolithic undertaking for DoorDash. The institution would surely similar to bushed Uber and Instacart to marketplace connected autonomous transportation vehicles. Dot could reshape DoorDash’s presumption successful the transportation market, but it could besides present a wide array of caller challenges.