Coco Delivery Bot Coming To Deliver Your Food In Austin
Coco has announced it is expanding its service, bringing its delivery robot to Austin, Texas after a successful launch in the company's home city of Los Angeles. The expansion represents the company's first foray outside of California, with more expansions soon to come.
Delivery robots are becoming big business, thanks in no small part to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the face of lockdowns and quarantines, people turned to online shopping and delivery services to gain access to the things they needed. At the same time, labor shortages have made it a challenge for many businesses to keep up with demand, including demand for home deliveries.
Thanks to advances in robotics, however, companies are increasingly turning to robots as a cost-effective way of meeting customers' needs. In addition to Coco, PepsiCo and 7-Eleven have deployed delivery bots of their own, in an effort to reach more customers. In Coco's case, the company partnered with Segway to create the remote-controlled COCO 1, providing more capacity and longer range than the previous model. According to the company, using its robots results in a "30% decrease in time-to-customer and an on-time delivery rate of 97%."
Coco's Austin Expansion
When looking for areas outside of LA, Austin was a natural fit for Coco's business model, thanks to its well-known and diverse food scene.
"When evaluating markets for expansion, Austin stood out to the team as a perfect match," said Zach Rash, Co-Founder and CEO of Coco. "Austin's entrepreneurial spirit, top notch food scene, and commitment to supporting small businesses makes it an ideal fit for Coco."
Coco entered the Austin market with 10 initial partners, including Arpeggio Grill, Aviator Pizza, Bamboo Bistro, Clay Pit, DeSano Pizzeria, and Tuk Tuk Thai. Service covers the Domain, Downtown, Northside, North Loop, South Austin, South Congress, and South Lamar neighborhoods.
When a customer places an order, a Coco bot goes to the participating restaurant, where the order is loaded into it. The bot then travels to the customer's location, delivering the order within 15 minutes or less.
Following its Austin expansion, the company plans on deploying its service in Dallas, Houston and Miami within the next few months.