Robotic Food Deliveries Start in Texas

Food delivery by a four-wheeled robot is hitting the streets of Austin, Texas. The pilot delivery services is by Coco, a startup that recently raised $56 million in funding to expand its food delivery service to Austin and then Dallas, Houston and Miami. To see the robot at their front door, customers place a food order, the merchant loads the food into the Coco and the robot then drives to the customer, whie being remotely assisted by a human operator or teleoperator. This method of directing robotic vehicles has been in the piloting stage for some time. Rather than having a human in the process, such as driverless cars with safety operators, in this approach, the teleoperator is remote and able to control the vehicle.