DoorDash’s longtime dream of cutting paid human beings out of the delivery process is one step closer to reality, as they’re debuting their little robots to do food deliveries, but at first only in Fremont.
Food delivery service DoorDash obviously hopes to pay its drivers as little as possible, and has always seen human drivers as a temporary unnecessary convenience until they can develop robots and drones to handle that job. They’re already testing the drones at a Mission District warehouse, and the robots will arrive in the Bay Area next week.
The San Francisco Business Times reports that DoorDash will roll out its delivery robots in Fremont, with a plan to start using the little robots effective next Thursday. They have perhaps avoided using the robots in San Francisco, where lawmakers are often fight technological creep, plus people might torch the little robots, or strip them and sell their parts for fentanyl money.
The video above shows off this delivery robot called “Dot,” and we gotta say, there are many completely implausible aspects to what is shown here. Will the robots really have googly, moving eyes? Will they really say “Bye-byyyyye!” in whimsical human interactions? Will they go on highways and move as fast as cars? This video seems more entertainment value than actually instructive on how these robots will work.
But Fremont City Hall is delighted to be DoorDash’s guinea pig here.
“This collaboration reflects Fremont's leadership in advanced manufacturing and robotics innovation while reinforcing our commitment to sustainability," Fremont Mayor Raj Salwan said in a statement to the Business Times.
Fremont is apparently about to issue a permit where 30 of these robots can operate at one time, without human "chaperones."
The DoorDash robots will reportedly start rolling in Fremont on Thursday, March 5. The company already uses them in Phoenix, Arizona.
Per the Business Times, the robots will be "servicing the city's Downtown/Central, Centerville and Irvington areas,” which “includes major corridors such as Fremont Boulevard, Walnut Avenue, Mowry Avenue, Stevenson Boulevard and Paseo Padre Parkway.”
Image via DoorDash
