DoorDash just unveiled Dot, a tiny red robot who will deliver your food across town. This four-wheeled wonder can go up to 20 mph, weaving through highways, bike lanes, sidewalks and even tight driveways with ease. Dot weighs 350 pounds and is 4.5 feet tall by 3 feet wide, and besides the bright red paint job, her face has huge LED eyes as well as a swinging mouth that opens to discharge cargo—up to 30 pounds of it, or six stacked pizza boxes if you’re ordering for the block party.
Peel open that cartoonish mouth to reveal a cargo bay ready for whatever the local bodega throws at it. Merchants can include custom trays, like cup holders for your iced latte or insulated liners for burritos. Up top, a colorful LED strip displays messages like “Food’s arrived!” while hidden speakers announce arrivals with a synthesized voice. A microphone is also hidden inside, ready for future AI-powered chat with consumers, but for now it only listens. Dot is powered by a swappable battery that pops out for overnight charge, so it never sits idle in a warehouse corner. Eight cameras, four radars and three LiDAR sensors keep watch 24/7, feeding into software that crunches obstacles in real time and picks paths smoother than your favorite shortcut home.
- Brushless Powerful Motor: With 350W powerful brushless motor, H5 electric scooter bring you a fast and smooth riding experience. Max speed is 19mph....
- Battery Performance: This adults electric scooter is equipped with a 36V/5.2Ah battery, which boasts an travel range of 15 miles on a single charge....
- App Control: Easily control your electric scooter via app Vicont. This software is available for both Android and IOS users. Unlock more function via...
A few Dots are already on the streets of Tempe and Mesa, Arizona as part of an early access test that’s already seen hundreds of handoffs. DoorDash chose the Phoenix suburbs because of their sprawl—wide open areas where sidewalks fade into grass and driveways require a quick touch. Local retailers sign up to load these bots with goodies and by the end of the year, the company hopes to have them deployed to all 1.6 million metro area residents.
With the Autonomous Delivery Platform, Dot becomes just one part of a bigger machine. This behind the scenes brain is the traffic cop for orders, weighing everything from distance to cost before dispatching the right ride: a Dasher on a bike for downtown sprints, a drone for rooftop drops, or a Dot for the block away. SmartScale and other tools help merchants pack the right payload for the job, catch problems before they derail a trip.
The bot yields to walkers and cyclists like a good neighbor and its mass is noticeable to cars without looming like a truck. When Dot hits a snag—a pothole ambush or a swarm of geese—she pulls over to wait it out, no frantic remote overrides in sight. DoorDash ditched teleoperation for something simpler: letting the machine pause and summon a field tech if things get stuck. Inside the hold, another camera watches for little stowaways, and at 350 pounds, a rogue tip-over calls for a quick flip from the support crew.
