Your next large pepperoni pizza with a side of mozzarella sticks and waffle fries could be delivered judgement-free.
Doordash, a food delivery app, has launched a pilot program in Redwood City, Calif. that’s using robots to deliver your grub.
Starship Technologies’ “local delivery robot” is a 35-pound cooler with six wheels and a bright orange flag. It’s outfitted with nine cameras and a bunch of ultrasonic sensors to keep it from rolling into traffic.
The sensors can also detect pedestrians, and recognize crosswalk signals and traffic lights. These bots can travel as fast as 10 mph, but keep it to a cool four mph – for safety.
And only you can unlock the robot’s locked container, so you don’t have to worry about hungry neighbors stealing your food. The robot will send out an alert if it’s tampered with.
Starships Technologies was founded by Janus Friis and Ahti Heinla, two of the co-founders of Skype. The Estonia-based start-up has already been testing in Europe, and began testing in San Francisco in September. Postmates already uses the robots throughout Washington DC.