Waymo dips its wheels back into delivery, this time with DoorDash

The sprawling city of Phoenix continues to be a test for Waymo, and not just on the technical front. The Alphabet-owned company used its first testbed and commercial marketplace to experiment with its business model as well, including delivery.

Waymo is best known for its robotaxis, but it has been testing how its technology can be used for delivery. The company previously tapped UPS and Uber Eats in pilot programs, devoting significant staff and resources to developing self-driving trucks under its Waymo Via arm, before shutting down that program in 2023 to focus on robotaxis.

Now it looks like Waymo is ready to test the delivery waters with a strategic, multi-year partnership with DoorDash. Waymo does not have any other delivery-focused testing, operations or partnerships, according to a company spokesperson.

The partnership will match DoorDash customers ordering food and groceries in a 315-square-mile area in Phoenix with self-driving Waymo, the company wrote in a blog post.

Not every DoorDash order will result in a Waymo delivery. Initially, Waymo’s delivery service will deliver orders from DashMart — DoorDash’s grocery and retail stores. Over time, more local Phoenix merchants and a wider range of offerings will be added, the companies said.

The deal with Waymo will give customers “a new and exciting experience, while advancing our vision of a multimodal self-driving vehicle,” said David Richter, vice president of business and corporate development at DoorDash.
The future of local trade.”

DoorDash is not new to self-driving vehicle technology. The company has partnered with Servi Robotics for curbside delivery robots to cover parts of Los Angeles. It also has an in-house autonomous vehicle technology team that has developed and produced an autonomous delivery robot called Dot. The delivery robot, which was unveiled in September, is being tested in the Phoenix area.

However, the deal with Waymo will not include DoorDash’s Dot vehicle. Instead, food or groceries will be placed in the trunk of a Waymo vehicle – a driverless Jaguar I-Pace that will travel on its own to the customer. From here, the customer will have to retrieve the items from the trunk via the DoorDash app.

This final step, which requires the customer to step out to the car and grab the delivered items, will be a big test for both companies, hoping to determine whether receiving groceries delivered by a self-driving vehicle outweighs the convenience of a human delivering items at their door.