DoorDash rolls out sidewalk delivery bots in LA and Chicago

DoorDash is ditching 2-ton cars for two chicken sandwiches.

The delivery giant just expanded its partnership with sidewalk robot startup Coco into the US, rolling out autonomous deliveries in Los Angeles and Chicago. Nearly 600 merchants across both cities are already signed up to drop meals and essentials straight into the compartments of these cooler-sized wheeled bots.

This isn't an overnight test. DoorDash's international arm, Wolt, previously piloted Coco's fleet in Helsinki, Finland. Across that initial pilot phase, DoorDash says it has already logged more than 100,000 robot deliveries worldwide.

Building a multimodal fleet

According to Harrison Shih, senior director of DoorDash Labs, the Coco rollout is central to the company’s vision of becoming a "multi-modal" platform. As Shih put it, "Not every delivery needs a 2-ton car just to deliver two chicken sandwiches."

DoorDash is actively testing multiple tiers of logistics. Alongside human gig drivers and sidewalk robots, the company is also partnering with Alphabet's Wing to test airborne drone deliveries in the US and Australia.

Of course, sidewalk turf is already getting crowded. DoorDash’s archrival Uber Eats has already been using Coco robots in Los Angeles. Uber Eats has also teamed up with Cartken in Miami and Japan, as well as Avride in Jersey City.

Operating autonomous carts on public sidewalks is far from smooth sailing. Other operators like Serve Robotics, which also collaborates with Uber Eats, maintain dedicated field teams to rescue bots when they get stuck on curbs, get vandalized, or face attempted theft from passersby.

Why it matters

We think this expansion is a smart acknowledgment that the current economics of gig food delivery are fundamentally broken for small orders. For customers ordering a quick sandwich, matching a short local trip to a multi-ton gas vehicle with high tips makes little sense. If sidewalk bots can reliably swallow short trips, they could ease fees and improve delivery times.

However, the operational headaches are just as real. Sidewalks are chaotic environments packed with strollers, dogs, broken pavement, and pranksters. If companies still have to pay human handlers to chase down and rescue stuck or vandalized robots, the theoretical cost savings of taking human drivers out of the equation might take a lot longer to materialize than pitch decks suggest.