Thousands of autonomous delivery robots are about to descend on US college campuses

Thousands of autonomous delivery robots are about to descend on US college campuses

The quintessential college experience of getting pizza delivered to your dorm room is about to get a high-tech upgrade. Starship Technologies announced its plan to deploy thousands of its autonomous six-wheeled delivery robots on college campuses around the country over the next two years.

Key findings

Starship robots have been tested in over 100 cities in 20 different countries, traveled 350,000 miles, crossed 4 million streets, and just marked the milestone of completing its 100,000th delivery. College campuses, with their abundance of walking paths, well-defined boundaries, and smartphone-using, delivery-minded student bodies, are an obvious place for Starship to stake out the next phase of its business.

Each robot is electric, has a trunk that can fit about 20 pounds of cargo, and has a suite of cameras around the outside that can be used to identify obstacles and help guide the robot to its destination. They have a delivery radius of three to four miles and can travel a maximum speed of 4 mph, which is obviously slower than a delivery by a human on a bike or in a car. Starship CEO Lex Bayer says the robot’s ability to work for many hours without a break is what gives it an advantage.

Starship makes money by charging customers $1.99 per order. It also has contracts with the universities and restaurants it delivers for, but Bayer says Starship can be more profitable than rival, human-powered (and heavily subsidized) delivery services like DoorDash and Postmates.

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