Waymo’s robot cars will soon have a new job: Delivering your food.
Waymo announced on Thursday a partnership with DoorDash to pilot an autonomous delivery service within its metro Phoenix service area, which covers around 315 square miles.
Customers can opt in to have a Waymo deliver its goods “in the coming months,” the Alphabet company said in a press release.
DashMart stores will be the first retailer on the platform, and the companies will add more merchants and offerings over time, a person familiar with Waymo said.
Customers can add grocery and meal orders on the DoorDash app and select the autonomous vehicle delivery option during checkout. When the car arrives, they can open the trunk with the DoorDash app and grab their items.
Just like for typical DoorDash orders, customers may be asked to pay a delivery charge, but there will be no driver tips, the person familiar with Waymo said.
The new service is one way to boost Waymo’s fleet utilization, the person said. They added that the same cars will be used for passenger and food delivery rides.
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Waymo is active in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, where it offers direct rides through its app. It also partners with Uber to provide rides in Austin and Atlanta, and with Lyft in Nashville.
The robo-delivery market is gaining steam across the US.
Earlier this month, DoorDash announced it partnered with delivery company Serve Robotics, which is also developing delivery robots. The companies said Serve’s robots would start making deliveries for DoorDash in Los Angeles, a city where Serve already works with Uber Eats.
Last month, DoorDash also unveiled a delivery robot, which it said is fully electric and one-tenth the size of a car. The service will first be launched in the greater Phoenix metro area.
Delivery robots have made a big splash on college campuses, too. Major university food providers, including Sodexo and Aramark, are partnering with the robot companies. At least 78 American universities have delivery robots roaming their campuses, based on figures three leading robot providers shared with Business Insider.
