"DoorDash has been working on autonomy and robotics technology since about 2017, Xu said in what he described as a "long journey." Any company trying to get involved in autonomous technology and do it at scale must master a variety of different skills, he said: "Imagine learning a new sport, but that sport has five different subdomains just to say that you're a rookie at that sport.""
"You have to build the hardware, develop the software, and fine-tune the delivery network, too-particularly in the instance that an autonomous delivery vehicle ends up getting stuck and needing human intervention. "It's very rare that one company is equally good at all of those skills," Xu said. "I think we have the potential to be one of those companies, but I think we're still very early in building the competence.""
DoorDash began work on autonomy and robotics around 2017 and has treated the effort as a long, difficult journey marked by significant setbacks. Development requires mastering hardware, software, and delivery-network coordination, including protocols for human intervention when autonomous vehicles get stuck. The company pursues a multi-pronged approach that combines partnerships and internal R&D. External collaborations include sidewalk robots with Coco Robotics in Los Angeles and Chicago and drone deliveries with Wing in Australia, while in-house efforts are centralized in DoorDash Labs. Recent investments are starting to yield initial commercial progress, though competence remains early-stage.
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