Coco Robotics Inc. is getting bigger.

The delivery robot company based in Santa Monica announced a partnership with food delivery platform DoorDash Inc. in early April, eight months after announcing a similar partnership with Uber’s delivery platform Uber Eats. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Portions of Los Angeles are littered with these insulated tubs on wheels, some of which have digital screens showing blinking eyes, others sporting a tall flag to warn any unsuspecting pedestrians. Many other companies in this sector have flocked to Los Angeles. Serve Robotics Inc., despite being a Silicon Valley company, operates exclusively in parts of Los Angeles – and when it was incubated as a division of delivery app Postmates, it saw Los Angeles as its biggest market for deliveries. Starship Technologies Inc., another Silicon Valley outfit, carries food throughout the UCLA campus.

Getting its start

Coco was created by two UCLA students in 2020, and has since raised more than $60 million in funding, per Pitchbook. The company’s partnership with DoorDash began in Helsinki, Finland, through DoorDash’s international division Wolt early in 2025, where Coco executed more than 100,000 deliveries. Now, residents in Los Angeles and Chicago may get a burrito and other items delivered through the app.

“Not every delivery needs a 2-ton car just to deliver two chicken sandwiches,” Harrison Shih, the senior director of DoorDash Labs, said in a statement. “We believe the future of delivery will be multi-modal.”

Indeed, a diverse fleet of vehicles – some that use human drivers, some that use sidewalk robots, and some that even fly – may be what’s needed to solve the last-mile delivery problem. While packing similar-sized goods on a truck to be delivered to one location is relatively cheap and scalable, bringing a variety of products – from small, over-the-counter medicines to delicately frosted cakes that need to be refrigerated – to individuals’ doors is among the most expensive parts of logistics. One Capgemini study reported that last-mile delivery accounts for 41% of total supply chain cost and 53% of shipping costs.

• SEE ALSO: Coco, Uber Partner on Deliveries

The topographic diversity of Los Angeles provides another problem. Some streets are better paved than others. Some homes are easy to deliver to, while others involve staircases, gates and multiple doors. Food delivery drivers contribute to congested roads, and, in some cases, accepting pickups is not financially worth it for gig workers who need to factor in time on the roads, the cost of gas and the cut automatically given to delivery apps.

“We worked with Coco to establish a ‘taxi line’ of robots so we can get food out to our customers faster, even during our busiest hours,” Eric Dela Cruz, owner of the local Los Angeles restaurant chain Main Chick Hot Chicken, said in a statement. “The improved operational efficiency translates directly into happier guests and stronger repeat business.”

Zach Rash, the cofounder and chief executive of Coco, sees the company expanding beyond food delivery and into goods delivery from local businesses.

“That’s really good for local businesses,” Rash said. “A lot of those types of things are currently being ordered on Amazon or other services that are not a part of the local economy.”