Waymo may also drive for DoorDash in Phoenix

Waymo has announced a brand new partnership with DoorDash that can make the corporate’s self-driving automobiles a supply possibility for customers in Phoenix, Arizona. You’ll be able to already hail a ride in Waymo’s Arizona service space, however this new partnership will give the corporate’s automobiles one thing to do after they’re not transporting human cargo.

To begin, Waymo says that deliveries can be restricted to issues you possibly can order by DashMart, DoorDash’s storefront for comfort and grocery shops. Finally, although, deliveries will “embody extra native Phoenix retailers and a greater diversity of choices.”

To be able to check out a Waymo supply, you will have to put your order by DoorDash and “decide in to autonomous supply” throughout checkout. As soon as Waymo’s automobile arrives, very like DoorDash’s Dot robot, you will then should bodily go away your house and acquire your order from the automobile’s trunk to finish the supply. A part of the comfort (and complication) of DoorDash is getting what you ordered dropped at your door. A Waymo supply may flip some folks off, because it makes that possibility not possible.

After all, this is not the primary time Waymo has delivered meals in Phoenix. In 2024 the corporate partnered with Uber Eats for the same program, with comparable limitations round how deliveries have been accomplished and the place meals could possibly be ordered from. Waymo runs its personal robotaxi service in Arizona, Waymo One, however relying on the area, it is also provided rides by third-party companions like Uber. Its partnerships with Uber Eats and DoorDash look like variations on the identical thought.

In 2020, Waymo was exploring utilizing self-driving long-haul trucks for deliveries. The corporate abandoned those plans in 2023 to prioritize robotaxis and the Waymo Driver software program, however these exams with DoorDash and Uber Eats could possibly be a sign that Waymo is occupied with pursuing deliveries on a smaller scale.