DoorDash, the food delivery giant known for connecting customers to their favorite restaurants with just a few taps, has taken a bold leap into the future of local commerce. On September 30, 2025, the company unveiled Dot, a bright red, autonomous delivery robot engineered to navigate bike lanes, roads, sidewalks, and driveways in the greater Phoenix metro area. This marks not only a technological milestone for DoorDash but also a potential transformation in how local businesses, delivery drivers, and consumers experience last-mile delivery.
Dot is no ordinary robot. At one-tenth the size of a car, standing about five feet tall and three feet wide, it is purpose-built for the unique challenges of neighborhood deliveries. According to DoorDash, Dot can safely reach speeds of up to 20 miles per hour and is capable of carrying up to 30 pounds of cargo—enough for six large pizza boxes or a hefty grocery haul. Its all-electric design is intended to reduce congestion and emissions, offering a greener solution to the problem of short-distance delivery that often clogs city streets with cars.
The launch began with an early access program in Tempe and Mesa, Arizona, setting the stage for a broader commercial rollout across the Phoenix area and, if successful, other markets nationwide. DoorDash spent seven years developing Dot in-house at DoorDash Labs, after realizing that existing delivery robots—mostly designed for short campus runs—just couldn’t cut it in the sprawling, suburban neighborhoods where most DoorDash deliveries take place. As Stanley Tang, co-founder and head of DoorDash Labs, put it in a statement reported by AZFamily/AP: “After 10 billion deliveries, we have data on what works, what breaks and what scales.”
The company has already completed hundreds of successful deliveries with Dot in recent months, and the robot’s performance has been closely monitored. Tang highlighted the careful thought behind Dot’s design: “You don’t always need a full-sized car to deliver a tube of toothpaste or pack of diapers. That’s the insight behind Dot. The breakthrough wasn’t just making it autonomous, but in making it reliable and efficient to serve the needs of local businesses and consumers. Dot is purpose-built for the millions of deliveries we facilitate every day. It is small enough to navigate doorways and driveways, fast enough to maintain food quality, and smart enough to optimize the best routes for delivery.”
Dot is not a standalone experiment. It’s deeply integrated with DoorDash’s new Autonomous Delivery Platform (ADP), an AI-powered system that acts as a dispatcher, matching each order to the optimal delivery method. Whether that’s a traditional Dasher, a Dot robot, a drone in the air, or another type of sidewalk bot, the platform orchestrates these decisions in real time, optimizing for speed, cost, and customer experience. As DoorDash explained, “Whether that’s a Dasher, a Dot on the road, a drone in the air, or a sidewalk robot, the platform orchestrates these decisions in real-time to optimize across our entire global network.”
For local businesses and consumers, the implications are significant. Merchants can reach more customers and get orders fulfilled even during peak hours or late at night, while consumers benefit from reliable, quick access to their favorite stores and restaurants. Dot’s integration into DoorDash’s existing tools means merchants don’t need to change how they operate, and customers can expect the same seamless experience they’re used to—just with a futuristic twist at their doorstep.
Importantly, DoorDash emphasized that human Dashers remain at the heart of its delivery network. The company says that while Dot and other autonomous technologies will increasingly handle local, lower-value trips, Dashers will continue to fulfill the majority of deliveries, especially those requiring human judgment and care. The synergy, DoorDash argues, will make the entire system more efficient and responsive to the growing demand for local commerce.
Local officials are embracing the change. Mesa Mayor Mark Freeman praised the city’s role in pioneering this new era. As he told the press, “Mesa has long been a proving ground for breakthrough ideas, and Dot is the latest example of American innovation in action. Seeing these autonomous delivery robots on streets throughout Mesa demonstrates how these advanced technologies can meet daily needs while strengthening the local businesses at the heart of our community. Our partnership with DoorDash underscores that Mesa, Arizona, isn’t just participating in the future of local delivery, we’re helping shape it.”
DoorDash’s ambitions don’t stop at robots. The company also recently announced a new “Going Out” tab on its app, allowing users to book restaurant reservations—a move that directly challenges platforms like OpenTable and Instacart. The reservation feature will first launch in New York and Miami, with additional cities to follow later in 2025. In cities without reservation capabilities, the tab will offer customers in-store rewards and deals, further deepening DoorDash’s relationship with restaurants and helping them attract new patrons. According to the Associated Press, during testing in San Francisco, 80% of “Going Out” users visited a restaurant they had never ordered from before.
To bolster its reservation technology, DoorDash acquired hospitality management software company SevenRooms in March 2025 for $1.2 billion. This strategic purchase is expected to strengthen DoorDash’s ability to offer exclusive perks to its DashPass members and provide restaurants with powerful tools to manage bookings and customer engagement.
The market has taken notice. Following the announcement of Dot and DoorDash’s expanded partnership with Fry’s parent company Kroger, DoorDash’s shares jumped 4%, while rival Instacart saw its shares drop 10%. It’s a clear signal that investors see autonomous delivery and integrated reservation capabilities as key growth drivers in the fiercely competitive delivery and logistics space.
DoorDash is also investing in its future workforce. DoorDash Labs is hiring for roles in engineering, research, and operations, encouraging those interested in shaping autonomous commerce to join its expanding team.
As DoorDash looks ahead, the company acknowledges that scaling autonomous delivery isn’t just about technology. It requires operational excellence, strong partnerships with merchants, regulatory cooperation, and a deep understanding of local commerce dynamics. The early success of Dot in Arizona could pave the way for a more efficient, sustainable, and accessible delivery ecosystem—one that blends the best of human ingenuity and artificial intelligence to meet the needs of modern communities.
With Dot rolling through the streets of Phoenix and new features rolling out nationwide, DoorDash is betting big on a future where delivery is not just faster and greener, but smarter and more connected than ever before.
