Rolling food delivery robots powered by Coco Robotics will now transport daily necessities and groceries to customers in Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami, the company announced Thursday.
Robots are already a common sight in Los Angeles, where they have been delivering hot meals to restaurants since April through a partnership with DoorDash. The pink and orange machines, the size of a large cooler, roam the sidewalks from Santa Monica to Silver Lake.
The company's latest expansion is in partnership with DoorDash's delivery-only online store, DashMart. Coco robots will fulfill select DashMart orders, which may include fresh groceries, cleaning supplies and electronics.
The DashMart partnership could dramatically expand the role of delivery robots in everyday shopping. Instead of being limited to restaurant deliveries, robots can now transport products from Target, Lowe's and Petco.
“We've built this to be the best possible autonomous vehicle for delivering goods,” Coco co-founder and CEO Zach Rash said in an interview.
Coco Robotics operates hundreds of robots in Los Angeles and plans to deploy 10,000 more nationwide in 2026. The Santa Monica-based company has completed more than 500,000 emissions-free deliveries and its robots have collectively traveled about 1 million miles.
The delivery service began as a dorm project in 2020, when Rash was a student at UCLA. Bots have attracted attention as their numbers have increased over the years, causing both affection and annoyance.
Some Los Angeles residents find robots cute and endearing. Others have gone to great lengths to destroy the robots or interfere with their travels.
Rash said there is so much demand for delivery services that the company's robots are not taking jobs away from human drivers.
Robots help make deliveries less expensive, he said.
“Having groceries delivered to your door is an incredible convenience for many reasons,” Rash said. “If we can use our technology to make this much more affordable for people, I think volumes will definitely grow.”
The company couldn't share specific expansion plans for Los Angeles, but said it expects the number of delivery robots to grow in several markets.
Coco Robotics deliveries are now available throughout much of the city, including Hollywood, Echo Park, Koreatown, and downtown.
“We operate in many of the central areas of the city, so I think there is a lot of opportunity to reach out more broadly into Los Angeles County,” Rash said.
The company makes money through platforms such as Uber Eats by fulfilling orders, direct payments from merchants for deliveries, as well as leasing parts of the fleet to restaurants and advertising services.
Although initially operated remotely by a human, many of Coco Robotics' robots now operate autonomously with the help of artificial intelligence.
The company faces competition in the race to perfect autonomous delivery, including San Francisco Bay Area-based Serve Robotics. Rash said the young company has plenty of room to grow.
“We will open many new markets to meet the growing demand,” he said. “We're going to need more robots.”
