DoorDash customers in Los Angeles might soon have their food brought to them by one of Serve Robotics’ sidewalk delivery bots. The two companies on Thursday announced a multi-year partnership that would see them using autonomous robots to make deliveries across the U.S.
The tie-up comes a week after DoorDash unveiled Dot, an autonomous food delivery bot built by the company that’s first being deployed in the Phoenix area. Unlike Serve’s bots, which mainly operate on sidewalks, Dot can ferry food and small packages on roads, bike lanes, and sidewalks at speeds up to 20 miles per hour.
Serve is the latest in a string of emerging tech partnerships for DoorDash, which has joined hands with companies like sidewalk bot startup Coco and drone startup Wing. According to Ashu Rege, VP of autonomy at DoorDash Labs, the company’s robotics and automation division, it’s all part of a broader plan to become a platform for multimodal deliveries.
DoorDash isn’t the first app company to ply such avenues. Uber has been striking partnerships with autonomous vehicle companies across its ride-hail, delivery, and freight businesses, and Serve is one of those companies. Similar to how gig workers operate, Serve’s bots will work with both Uber and DoorDash simultaneously.
