DoorDash customers in Los Angeles might soon have their food brought to them by one of Serve Roboticsโ sidewalk delivery bots. The two companies on Thursday announced a multi-year partnershipย that would see them using autonomous robots to make deliveries across the U.S.ย ย
The tie-up comes a week after DoorDash unveiled Dot, an autonomous food delivery botย built by the company thatโsย firstย being deployedย in the Phoenixย area. Unlike Serveโs bots, whichย mainly operateย on sidewalks, Dot can ferry food and small packages on roads, bike lanes and sidewalks at speeds up to 20 miles per hour.ย ย
Serve is the latest in a string of emerging tech partnerships for DoorDash, which has joined hands withย companies like sidewalk bot startup Cocoย andย drone startup Wing.ย According to Ashu Rege, VP ofย autonomy at DoorDash Labs, the companyโs robotics and automation division, itโsย all part of a broader plan toย become a platform for multimodal deliveries.ย ย
DoorDashย isnโtย the first app company to ply such avenues. Uber has been striking partnerships with autonomous vehicle companies across its ride-hail, delivery andย freight businesses, and Serve is one of those companies.ย Similar to how gig workers operate,ย Serveโs bots will work with both Uber and DoorDash simultaneously.ย ย
But DoorDash is doing something different here: itโsย throwing its own hat in the ring.ย
Other companies haveย attemptedย this strategy, too. Uber and Lyft both tried and failed toย operateย bothย the technology stack and platformย for autonomous ride-hailing. And AV startup Nuro started out with a similar vehicle to Dot before it realized that manufacturing isย aย capital sinkhole.
All three companies took the scenic route to realize thatย itโsย more cost-effective to focus on their core technology and offerings.ย ย
Techcrunch event
San Francisco
|
October 27-29, 2025
Regeย thinks DoorDash will be different.ย The company plans to manufacture Dot at scale, but Rege declined to provide specific details. DoorDash had its firstย profitable year inย 2024, and reportedย record profitsย in the first half of 2025, thanks to a 20% increase in delivery volumes compared to a year earlier.ย He argues that the companyย needsย more ways to make deliveries if itโs going to continue serving its growing customer base.ย ย
Moreover,ย Regeย thinks Dot brings something to the table that other form factorsย donโt.ย โWe felt there was a gap. On the one end, you have sidewalk robots, and on the other hand robotaxis, which are great for moving people, but they do not address the delivery problem of that last 10 feet,โ he said. โA burrito is not going toย walk itselfย to your door. And for merchants, theyย donโtย want to [โฆ] go findย this robot thatโs parked half a block away.โย
While sidewalk robots may work well in dense urban environments, Rege said Dot will fill theย gap in โdense suburban deliveriesโ withinย a range of threeย to five miles. Dotโs ability to traverse the roadsย andย sidewalks is โa really key part,โย he said.
Of course, a person can do all of this with ease, but DoorDash says it plans to reserve its human workforce for more โcomplexโย restaurant, retail or grocery trips.
