Deliveroo to roll out delivery robots in five UK locations. Deliveroo is to begin using pavement robots to deliver takeaways and groceries in the UK, with its first robot deliveries due to take place in London in the coming weeks. The branded robots will initially operate in Canary Wharf in east London, as well as in Milton Keynes, Leeds, Stockton-on-Tees and Nottingham, all areas where local councils allow robot deliveries. Miki Kuusi, the chief executive of Deliveroo, said the move was "not about replacing" human riders. "We view it as a complement [to human couriers]," he said. "Certain kinds of deliveries, certain kinds of merchants, certain neighbourhoods and places work better for autonomous deliveries." Free newsletters The stories that matter to UK business, straight to your inbox. The robots are made by Coco, a US technology firm that has an exclusive deal with Deliveroo. They travel at roughly walking pace and use sensors, cameras and an AI navigation system to move along pavements. Deliveroo is in talks with more councils across the UK and with the Department for Transport as it seeks permission to use the technology more widely. Kuusi, 37, said the number of robots would grow as the technology improved, but described it as an "incremental process". He said: "Especially in high-density, urban environments, you're always going to need people who do deliveries. It's more about what the optimal fleet split is." Rival platforms are also automating deliveries. Just Eat uses robot couriers made by Starship in some parts of Britain, while Deliveroo is trialling deliveries by airborne drone in Dublin. Deliveroo was founded in 2013 by the tech entrepreneur Will Shu and was acquired last year by the US delivery group DoorDash in a £2.9bn takeover. Kuusi, who is also DoorDash's international chief executive, has since sought to make ordering on the platform more affordable and to expand in groceries. On 24 September the company announced a partnership with Aldi. Kuusi said robots would help to lower costs. "A plastic box on wheels rolling around a city is incredibly energy-efficient, the hardware can be very low-cost, and that ultimately makes the service a lot more affordable," he said. He also argued that robot couriers would help local retailers and independent shops compete with international groups such as Amazon and Shein. "It's not going to some company that's bringing something over through the airport from the other side of the world, trying to price-compete to death the high street locally," he said. The use of pavement robots has drawn objections. In July, the campaign group Living Streets argued that Starship robots used by the Co-op for grocery deliveries presented "a danger to pedestrians". Kuusi said: "These are the kind of things where it's very easy to come up with all the concerns and fears on paper in theory. But then when you actually see these things on the streets and how they work as a part of the city, the reality is that they blend in quite well." Deliveroo does not treat the riders who fulfil orders as employees. They are self-employed contractors in law, and critics have argued that the model is exploitative because riders do not receive benefits such as sick pay or pension contributions. Concerns have also been raised that a feature allowing riders to rent out their accounts to substitutes can be exploited by criminals. Deliveroo has introduced new security features in response. In France, four campaign groups have sued Deliveroo and Uber Eats, accusing them of "human trafficking" and of making "significant profits by exploiting the vulnerability of these workers". Both companies deny the claims. Kuusi said: "If I look at the UK, we're talking about over 100,000 people that deliver actively on Deliveroo." He said the company had "had to come up with more sophisticated ways to try to combat malpractice on the platform", adding: "This is not something we want on the platform." Jamie Young. Jamie Young is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, covering SME finance, employment law and Westminster policy since 2016. He has reported on every Budget and Autumn Statement since 2018, helped make sense of the 'covid era' and the bounce-back loan scheme from launch through the fraud investigations, and broke the magazine's coverage of the 2024 late-payment reforms. He joined Business Matters straight from completing his BA in Administration from Exeter University and is NCTJ-qualified. Reach him at [email protected]

2 UCLA students thought food delivery was broken. Shake Shack called their invention its 'favorite courier.' They looked at a 5,000-pound car delivering a 5-pound bag of food and decided there had to be a better way. Copied to clipboard Key takeaways. * Coco Robotics is doing 1,000 deliveries a day in Los Angeles and has completed more than 500,000 deliveries across more than 1 million miles. * The company's VP of Enterprise Partnerships believes using traditional cars to deliver small food orders creates unnecessary costs. * Shake Shack regional manager gave Coco a particularly memorable review. Restaurant delivery has a vehicle problem. Coco Robotics was founded in 2020 by two UCLA engineers who began questioning whether traditional cars made sense for moving restaurant orders short distances. "They were just kind of looking around at the environment thinking, 'Why are we using 5,000-pound cars to deliver a five-pound bag of food?'" Melissa Fahs, Vice President of Enterprise Partnerships at Coco Robotics, says. "There has to be a better way." The founders set out to build a vehicle specifically for restaurant delivery. Fahs joined the Coco team after spending years working with restaurant partners and seeing firsthand how difficult the economics of third-party delivery could be. "The last mile is broken," Fahs says. "The cost equation has to change." For years, autonomous cars seemed like part of the answer. But even as that technology has advanced, Fahs believes a full-size car isn't the ideal vehicle for moving a small restaurant order across a neighborhood. When she was introduced to Coco and saw what the founders had built, the opportunity immediately stood out. "This is going to fix what's broken in third-party delivery," Fahs remembers. For restaurants and their customers, that means more than replacing a car with a robot. Fahs says Coco eliminates the need for a consumer tip while helping restaurants protect food quality. Orders travel directly from the restaurant to the customer and remain locked inside the robot during delivery. "It allows the restaurant to keep the food presented in the way it was prepared, at the temperature it was intended," she says. The bigger challenge is making the technology work without creating another operational burden. Fahs describes restaurants as "mini factories" that produce food quickly for demanding customers while managing thin margins, perishable products and entry-level labor. "Our robot has to be so seamless," she says. "Coco has to be so seamless into their operation that they actually love it." For at least one restaurant operator, that's already happening. Fahs says a Shake Shack regional manager gave Coco a particularly memorable review: "Coco's our favorite courier." It's already here. Coco Robotics is doing 1,000 deliveries a day in Los Angeles. Its robots have traveled more than one million miles and completed more than 500,000 deliveries since the company launched. "It isn't the future," Melissa Fahs says. "It is here today." Coco now works with 4,500 merchants, while restaurant brands including Little Caesars, Taco Bell, Shake Shack and White Castle are beginning to explore the technology. The company operates in seven cities, and each market has taught the team something new. In Finland, cold weather meant faster battery drain and studded tires. Chicago brought more lessons about the cold. In Miami, heavy rains pushed Coco to go beyond waterproofing. The next model is designed to be submersible, allowing it to navigate deep puddles while keeping the food protected. "With every city we kind of learn something," Fahs says. For restaurants, Fahs says adoption is designed to be simple. There's no robot to purchase, maintain or clean. In markets where Coco operates, restaurants can ask Uber Eats or DoorDash to turn on the service. "All you do is load your food in the robot, and we take care of everything else," Fahs says. That simplicity is important in an industry where operators have little room for another complicated system. Fahs believes autonomous delivery has to fit into the restaurant's existing operation, not force the restaurant to adapt around it. And operators don't have to make a major commitment to find out whether it works for them. "Get in the game," Fahs says. "You could do one store. But learn about how it can fit or not fit in your operation, how it fits with your guests." For Fahs, the opportunity is no longer about waiting to see whether autonomous delivery becomes viable. Restaurants can start testing it now. About restaurant Influencers. Restaurant Influencers is brought to you by Toast, the powerful restaurant point-of-sale and management system that helps restaurants improve operations, increase sales and create a better guest experience. Toast - Powering Successful Restaurants. Learn more about Toast. Restaurant Influencers is proud to have PepsiCo as a sponsor of this episode. Partnering with PepsiCo Foodservice helps restaurant operators drive sustainable growth through smarter digital experiences, AI-backed menu optimization, and tools designed to create more profitable online orders. Check out PepsiCo Foodservice

Little Caesars teams up with Coco Robotics to power fast autonomous pizza deliveries. Aug 19, 2026, 09:00 ET Coco's robots power faster deliveries of Little Caesars HOT-N-READY(R) pizzas across locations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and soon San Jose LOS ANGELES, Aug. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Coco Robotics, the leader in autonomous delivery, today announced a collaboration with Little Caesars, the third-largest pizza chain in the world, to bring autonomous robot deliveries to locations throughout Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami, with Little Caesars deliveries coming soon to Coco's recently expanded operations in downtown San Jose. Coco's robots are currently serving participating Little Caesars locations, marking the beginning of a broader rollout to bring autonomous delivery to more Little Caesars guests. Orders placed through participating Little Caesars locations on DoorDash and Uber Eats may be fulfilled by Coco, providing a faster, environmentally friendly, and more efficient delivery experience. Coco integrates directly into both platforms' existing ordering systems, requiring no manual entry or extra steps for in-store teams. Orders move directly from the kitchen to the curb, where a Coco robot completes the final delivery to the customer. "This partnership is about delivering more value and convenience to our guests," said Trish Heusel, VP of Innovation at Little Caesars. "By integrating Coco's autonomous robots, we can deliver hot, delicious pizza in record time to more customers. With Coco, we're now able to make deliveries even more quickly. Automating deliveries also reduces congestion in our stores and helps get orders out faster during peak periods." "We're proud to partner with Little Caesars, an iconic brand known for its dedication to speed and value," said Melissa Fahs, VP, Enterprise at Coco Robotics. "By integrating our robots into Little Caesars operations, we're showing how autonomous deliveries can enhance the guest experience at scale, making ultra-fast, sustainable delivery a reality for millions of pizza lovers." About Coco Robotics Coco Robotics is the world's largest urban robot delivery platform, combining autonomous robots, real-world operations data, and advanced AI to power smarter, more efficient city logistics. Founded in 2020, Coco has completed over 500,000 zero-emission deliveries across the U.S. and Europe. The fleet continuously learns from millions of miles of real-world operations, giving Coco instant adaptability to new cities and environments. This data-driven intelligence allows Coco to expand rapidly while maintaining safe, reliable, and efficient operations. Coco's mission is to create more sustainable, reliable, and affordable last-mile logistics solutions in cities around the world. For more information, visit www.cocodelivery.com. About Little Caesars(R) Little Caesars, the Best Value in Pizza*, was founded by Mike and Marian Ilitch as a single, family-owned restaurant in 1959 and is headquartered in downtown Detroit, Michigan. It is the third-largest pizza chain in the world, with restaurants in each of the 50 U.S. states and 31 countries and territories. Known for its HOT-N-READY(R) pizza, Crazy Puffs(R), and famed Crazy Bread(R), Little Caesars uses quality ingredients, like fresh, never-frozen mozzarella and Muenster cheese and sauce made from fresh-packed, vine-ripened California crushed tomatoes. The brand is known for innovation and is home to the exclusive Pizza Portal(R) pickup, a heated, self-service mobile order pickup station. Little Caesars is also the Official Pizza Sponsor of the NFL. A high-growth company with over 65 years in the $150 billion worldwide pizza industry, Little Caesars continually looks for franchisee candidates to join the team in markets worldwide. In addition to providing the opportunity for entrepreneurial independence in a franchise system, Little Caesars offers a simple operating system, a reputation for taste and value, and strong brand awareness with one of the most recognized characters in the country, Little Caesar. Little Caesars is proud to be part of the Ilitch Companies family of businesses. *Limited to top 4 national pizza chains in the United States SOURCE Coco Robotics