DoorDash Is Testing Robot Car Deliveries with Waymo

Your next DoorDash order might show up in a car with no driver. Which is either cool or deeply unsettling depending on how you feel about autonomous vehicles.

DoorDash and Waymo announced a partnership Thursday to test driverless delivery in Phoenix. If that goes well, they're planning to expand it to other cities later this year.

Also, DashPass members in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix can get $10 off one Waymo ride per month through the end of 2025. New promo code drops at the beginning of each month through December 31.

How The Robot Delivery Thing Works

Right now it's only being tested in Phoenix. The companies didn't say which cities are next, just that broader rollout is coming later this year.

DoorDash customers in eligible areas can opt into the autonomous delivery through the app's "Autonomous Delivery Platform." Order something from a participating merchant and you might get matched with a Waymo instead of an actual person.

The system coordinates different delivery methods - Waymo cars, drones, sidewalk robots, and regular dashers (what DoorDash calls its human delivery workers). Everything gets managed at scale through the platform.

For now, Waymo deliveries are starting with DashMart, which is DoorDash's own store for groceries and household stuff. They'll expand from there as testing continues.

What Waymo Says About It

Nicole Gavel, head of business development at Waymo, had this to say about the collaboration:

We are excited to make everyday errands easier with the Waymo Driver, offering the added peace of mind that comes with our safe and reliable technology.

Peace of mind is an interesting phrase for a car with no driver showing up at your door. But Waymo's been testing autonomous vehicles for years, so they've got more data than most companies trying this.

The whole pitch is contactless delivery taken to its logical extreme. No human interaction whatsoever. Just a robot car pulling up, you grabbing your food, and it driving away.

The Dashpass Discount Deal

DashPass members in LA, San Francisco and Phoenix get $10 off one Waymo ride monthly through December. Not a massive discount but enough to try it out if you're curious about riding in an autonomous vehicle.

DashPass gives you $0 delivery fees, reduced service fees, and exclusive deals. Standard subscription perks. The Waymo discount is just an added bonus for people in those three cities.

Stock Reactions Weren't Great

Google owns Waymo, and their stock was down 0.18% Thursday afternoon when this got announced. DoorDash dropped 2.70%.

Not exactly a vote of confidence from investors. But stock prices react to everything, so it's hard to say if that's specifically about the autonomous delivery news or just general market movement.

Why Companies Want Driverless Delivery

Labor costs. That's the main reason. Paying human delivery drivers adds up fast. Replace them with autonomous vehicles and suddenly profit margins look a lot better.

DoorDash already deals with constant criticism about how it treats its delivery workers. Gig economy jobs, inconsistent pay, lack of benefits. Replacing people with robots sidesteps all those issues. It also creates new ones, but companies seem fine with that tradeoff.

From a business perspective it makes sense. Autonomous delivery scales better than human workers. Cars don't call in sick, don't quit, don't complain about tips.

Will People Actually Use This?

Some will. Plenty of people don't care if a human or a robot delivers their food as long as it shows up hot and on time.

Others find the whole concept weird. There's something impersonal about a car with no driver pulling up to your house. No human interaction, no ability to ask questions or fix mistakes if something goes wrong.

Plus the technology still isn't perfect. Autonomous vehicles work pretty well in controlled environments and good weather. But they struggle with unexpected situations. What happens when a Waymo can't figure out how to navigate a weird apartment complex? Or the gate code doesn't work? Or someone's front door is hard to find?

Human delivery drivers handle those problems constantly. They improvise. Robots aren't great at improvising yet.

The Bigger Picture

Phoenix is a good testing ground. The weather's predictable, the roads are wide, and Waymo's already been operating autonomous ride services there. If driverless delivery is going to work anywhere, it'll work in Phoenix.

Whether it scales to cities with worse weather, tighter streets, and more complicated delivery scenarios is still an open question.

Did you find this information useful? Feel free to bookmark or to post to your timeline to share with your friends.