Popular American fast-food franchise Chick-fi-A has announced the launch of Kiwibot, a robotic delivery service that has completed over 150,000 food deliveries with semi-autonomous robots The robots can already be seen on the streets of Santa Monica, California and by the beginning of May 2021, for those who order through local Shopify-powered portals, the service will extend across Los Angeles, San Jose, Miami, Pittsburg, and Detroit the brand said.
Several other chains are also working on robot deliveries, including Domino’s and Chipotle.
The upgraded Level-3 autonomous devices are equipped with high-tech sensors to detect people, traffic lights, vehicles, and take decisions in path planning and obstacle avoidance. Additionally, they are supported remotely by trained human supervisors to cross streets and stop immediately to ensure safe operations, stated Kiwibot.
The average delivery takes 30 minutes and costs $1.99, and the robot won’t be expecting a tip.
Felipe Chávez Cortés, the CEO and Co-Founder of Kiwibot, said that the idea of a company planning to “deploy tens of thousands of adorable robots” sounds rather futuristic. He aspires to educate the general population during the keynote about integrating robots into communities so that food delivery is available for everyone at low costs.
