Estonia's Starship shifts 1,200 robots to grocery delivery

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Delivery robot manufacturer Starship Technologies is gradually exiting operations on U.S. university campuses, shifting its business focus to retail grocery chains and hot food delivery in Europe and U.S. cities.

The six-wheeled, suitcase-sized robots produced by the Estonian company, once commonly seen shuttling across university campuses delivering online snack orders to students in plazas or on sidewalks, have become a familiar campus sight.

Grocery delivery may hold greater market potential. Starship's grocery delivery business has seen tenfold growth over the past two years; in Finland alone, its market penetration has reached approximately 20%, meaning about one-fifth of all grocery deliveries in the country are completed by Starship robots. The company says each robot reduces delivery costs by $3 to $4 per trip compared to traditional courier methods.

To replicate this success in the U.S., Starship will redeploy over 1,200 robots from its U.S. campus fleet to support grocery retailers. The company also revealed that it will announce partnerships with grocery retailers in the coming months.

Ahti Heinla, CEO and co-founder of Starship Technologies, said: "Delivery robots have gained significant traction across multiple industries, including industrial, university, and corporate sectors, but now is the time to focus on the vertical we believe offers the most value to our customers and the company itself." He added: "We are proud of the remarkable programs we built on U.S. campuses. When we started in 2018, operating in closed, controlled environments was the right starting point: it provided operational depth and real-world delivery data that no laboratory could match. Today, we have the capability to operate reliably at scale in open urban environments, which is exactly what grocery delivery requires."

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