DoorDash is still ironing out Dot delivery robot kinks, from charging to pickups

Aug 06, 2026 05:55 AM - 1 hour ago 1

Two DoorDash Dot transportation robots beryllium successful a convention room astatine DoorDash office successful San Francisco

DoorDash's transportation robot isn't rather fresh for premier time.

The transportation work has spent the past respective months testing its Dot transportation robot arsenic it makes deliveries successful parts of Phoenix, Arizona. And while the institution is moving connected securing permits for Dot to grow to different cities, there's still a batch that the institution needs to fig retired earlier it expands the autonomous transportation option, CEO Tony Xu said connected a second-quarter net telephone connected Wednesday.

"I'm a large believer that you really person to nail thing earlier you standard it," Xu said.

To make autonomous deliveries work, DoorDash has to correctly estimate really agelong it will return restaurants to hole orders, Xu said. The institution besides has to fig retired really Dot tin driblet disconnected orders astatine gated communities aliases interact pinch a doorman astatine an flat building.

Xu besides pointed to the rumor of loading the robots. The institution is paying immoderate DoorDash workers astir $5 to load orders into Dot robots, Business Insider reported connected Sunday.

Those challenges "might beryllium virtually 1 one thousandth the number of issues that you person to lick to really person a chance astatine making autonomous deliveries really happen," Xu said connected Wednesday's call.

DoorDash will besides person to lick akin problems for DoorDash Air, the drone transportation work that it announced past month. The institution expects to commencement drone deliveries later this year.

Companies for illustration Uber and DoorDash person turned to autonomous vehicles to make much ride-hailing trips and present much orders complete the past year. Without group driving them, though, the companies must lick a number of problems.

With Dot, DoorDash is trying to lick issues from attraction and manufacturing to having infrastructure to complaint the robots, the institution wrote successful a press release connected its second-quarter earnings.

Those "are each highly difficult and must beryllium addressed astatine scale," DoorDash said successful the release.

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Alex Bitter is simply a elder unit newsman covering the gig economy, food, and retail. His activity focuses awesome gig transportation and ride-hailing apps, including Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, and Walmart's Spark. He is willing successful everything from what it's for illustration to activity connected the apps to the companies' business strategies.Some of his caller stories characteristic gig workers who person been deactivated connected the apps, DoorDash hiring accepted employees to make deliveries, gig workers' usage of bots, and gig activity expanding into caller professions, specified arsenic nursing.Alex has besides written astir Aldi's US description , Starbucks' turnaround efforts, and the fallout from Kraft-Heinz's fund cutting. Convenience shop concatenation Sheetz ended its "smile policy" aft his reporting.Before joining Insider successful September 2020, he wrote astir user and unit companies for S&P Global Market Intelligence. He's a postgraduate of the University of Hawai'i astatine Mānoa and grew up connected the Big Island.Alex lives successful the Washington, DC, area, wherever you tin find him studying ancient coins aliases searching for Civil War artifacts pinch his metallic detector successful his free time.Got a tip? Reach retired astatine [email protected] aliases via encrypted messaging app Signal astatine +1 (808) 854-4501.