DoorDash Slides Into Your DMs With Dinner

DoorDash, the popular food delivery service, is now allowing customers to order their favorite meals through text messages. The company's new AI-powered agent operates within Apple's Messages app, enabling users to place orders without opening the DoorDash app. The agent matches the customer's phone number to their DoorDash profile, considers their order history and preferences, and handles the entire checkout process using the stored payment method.

Co-Founder Andy Fang highlighted that "every other AI agent is meeting you for the first time. We've known you for years."

Customers can order their meals by simply texting, requesting recommendations from local restaurants, or saying "order my usual." The AI agent searches for nearby dining options, suggests dishes, and even sends photos of the food from the restaurant's DoorDash store page. It can also accommodate dietary preferences for group orders. With permission, the agent can message customers about regular coffee orders before they inquire.

DoorDash's in-app version of the agent demonstrates why the company wants the AI agent in more places. The average U.S. customer has access to over 800,000 menu items and grocery products. Using Ask DoorDash, customers can build grocery baskets up to five times faster than before, and nearly half of restaurant orders go to places the customer had never tried before. More than 30% of grocery orders are routine restocks.

However, the text agent is still in its early stages. Bloomberg's testing of an early version found discrepancies in prices compared to the app. DoorDash has assured waitlist users that they will receive an updated version. The company is also expanding the AI agent to workplace AI. A new tool allows enterprise AI assistants to place DoorDash orders without the need for the app, for instance, via a Slack bot that collects lunch requests from a team and places a single group order.

DoorDash is in discussions with Meta about connecting its AI agent to Meta's Muse platform. While Amazon has blocked Meta's Muse agent from shopping its site, DoorDash is taking a different approach by partnering with Meta. This strategy allows both companies to build businesses – DoorDash through its own agent and Meta through its shopping tools.