DoorDash hires gig workers to load its autonomous delivery robots

DoorDash has begun a limited pilot in the Phoenix region where its Dot autonomous delivery robots are loaded by gig workers hired through the DoorDash app. Workers such as Devena Bybee traveled a short distance to a restaurant, placed the order into the robot, and were paid roughly $5 for a five-minute assignment. The company frames the program as a way to help merchants during peak times while offering Dashers additional income beyond traditional deliveries.

The need for human assistance mirrors earlier cases where DoorDash contractors were asked to close doors on Waymo’s self-driving cars in Atlanta. Labor experts point out that independent contractors do not receive employee benefits, which could translate into savings for DoorDash compared with employing restaurant staff. DoorDash’s CEO Tony Xu has previously acknowledged the difficulty of automating the hand-off from kitchen to robot. The pilot illustrates that, for now, human workers remain essential to the delivery ecosystem.