DoorDash is still ironing out Dot delivery robot kinks, from charging to pickups
DoorDash's autonomous delivery robot, Dot, faces issues like loading and tricky deliveries, CEO Tony Xu said. Testing continues in Phoenix.
DoorDash, the popular food delivery service, is still grappling with issues surrounding its autonomous delivery robot, Dot. Despite unveiling the robot in September last year, the company is yet to overcome challenges related to loading, deliveries, and charging. CEO Tony Xu, in a recent earnings call, emphasized the need to perfect the technology before scaling it up.
DoorDash is currently paying some delivery workers around $5 to manually load orders into the robots, as reported by Business Insider. The company is also facing hurdles in making deliveries to places like gated communities or apartment buildings with doormen. Xu acknowledged that these problems might be a fraction of the overall challenges they need to address to make autonomous deliveries viable.
DoorDash is also working on another autonomous delivery option, DoorDash Air, a drone delivery service announced last month. The company aims to roll out drone deliveries later this year. This move follows a trend among companies like Uber, which are also exploring autonomous vehicles to enhance their ride-hailing services and delivery operations.
DoorDash's efforts to integrate autonomous delivery systems highlight the growing interest and investment in this technology, despite the numerous obstacles that need to be overcome.
Written by urgent.news from Business Insider's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
