Skip to main content

Get your Postmates or DoorDash delivery from a Starship Technologies robot

starship technologis doordash postmates technologies
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Your delivery man is about to become a delivery machine — literally. A new pilot program from Starship Technologies wants to bring robotic delivery to the masses, starting in Redwood City, California, with DoorDash, and Washington, D.C. with Postmates. For the last couple years, Starship has been developing a fleet of robotic personal couriers, and now, they’re putting them to the test.

“DoorDash and Postmates are championing on-demand local delivery, sharing Starship’s vision to save customers time and money” said Ahti Heinla, CEO and co-founder of Starship Technologies. Indeed, the two companies are among the most popular delivery services in the U.S., as they complete millions of delivers annually across much of the U.S.

Recommended Videos

And now, those deliveries may be completed by autonomous bots that navigate sidewalks, holding packages in their hulls. To retrieve their contents, customers need only to push a button, whereupon they’ll be able to grab whatever they ordered from the robot’s “trunk.” Of course, these deliveries probably won’t be coming to you all that quickly — Starship’s robots hit top speeds of just 4 miles per hour (to keep pedestrians safe), and generally deliver only within a two-mile radius. That means that these robots won’t be replacing humans — at least, not yet.

“With DoorDash’s goal of building the local logistics layer for every city, we have a clear shared passion with Starship for revolutionizing last mile delivery,” said Stanley Tang, co-founder and chief product officer at DoorDash. “By adding robots as a complement to the tens of thousands of Dashers who use the DoorDash platform, we’ll be able to better delight customers with faster, more convenient deliveries. While other companies trying to play catch up in the delivery space either ignore the law or chase ideas like drones that lack the infrastructure to be implemented, we’re excited to be bringing autonomous deliveries to customers in weeks rather than years.”

Postmates echoed this sentiment, with its senior vice president, Holger Luedorf, noting, “We’re very excited about robotics and how we can better utilize the technology to enhance our already strong delivery fleet. We know there is still a long way to go, but we’re excited to team up with Starship on this pilot program and see how the robots are received by our customers and merchant partners.”

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
Mazda confirms a hybrid CX-5 and electric SUV are on the way
mazda hybrid cx 5 electric suv 2024 arata concept 4

Mazda might be making headway in the pursuit of bringing back an electric vehicle (EV) stateside.

Ever since it discontinued the MX-30 EV in the U.S. last year, the Japanese automaker has had zero EV offerings for potential U.S. customers.

Read more
Range Rover’s first electric SUV has 48,000 pre-orders
Land Rover Range Rover Velar SVAutobiography Dynamic Edition

Range Rover, the brand made famous for its British-styled, luxury, all-terrain SUVs, is keen to show it means business about going electric.

And, according to the most recent investor presentation by parent company JLR, that’s all because Range Rover fans are showing the way. Not only was demand for Range Rover’s hybrid vehicles up 29% in the last six months, but customers are buying hybrids “as a stepping stone towards battery electric vehicles,” the company says.

Read more
BYD’s cheap EVs might remain out of Canada too
BYD Han

With Chinese-made electric vehicles facing stiff tariffs in both Europe and America, a stirring question for EV drivers has started to arise: Can the race to make EVs more affordable continue if the world leader is kept out of the race?

China’s BYD, recognized as a global leader in terms of affordability, had to backtrack on plans to reach the U.S. market after the Biden administration in May imposed 100% tariffs on EVs made in China.

Read more