The robot belongs to Coco Robotics, a company founded in 2020 that uses autonomous robots to deliver food and other goods.
Last week, I was in Miami Beach, standing outside my hotel and waiting for food delivery. That’s when something caught my eye: a robot rolling down the sidewalk, with a caution flag on top. Curious, I ran down the sidewalk to take a closer look. It looked like a wagon on wheels, dodging people, and stopping with pedestrians at crosswalks. The robot’s branding said Coco.
I’ve seen driverless cars around and had read about autonomous delivery before, but seeing it in action was different. Something that once seemed futuristic was part of everyday life.
From sidewalk deliveries to big business opportunities
According to Coco, its fleet has completed more than 500,000 deliveries and serves more than 3,000 merchants. The company has partnered with major delivery platforms, including DoorDash and Uber Eats. The robots currently operate in select cities, including Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, and San Jose, and the list is growing.
In October, Coco announced a partnership with Deliveroo to bring robot deliveries to the United Kingdom, starting in London.
But what interested me most wasn’t that a robot could deliver someone’s meal. It was what that little robot revealed about the ways businesses are changing. Here are three lessons worth paying attention to.
1. The biggest AI opportunities may be outside your computer.
Most of the conversation about artificial intelligence has focused on what happens on screens. AI can write emails, analyze data, create presentations, and handle increasingly complex digital tasks. But the next wave of innovation is moving into the physical world.