Estonian-founded tech giants partner to set the pace for sustainable city delivery in Europe

LONDON | 15 October 2024

Starship Technologies, the world’s leading provider of autonomous delivery services, and Bolt, have today announced the launch of a new food delivery service. As the first rollout of the commercial partnership agreed between the two Estonian-founded tech giants last year, this collaboration in Tallinn, Estonia, is the first of its kind in Europe. 

The combination of Starship’s cutting-edge robots and Bolt’s rapid expansion into delivery tech is set to shape the future of urban mobility across Europe. Bolt can now offer customers a more flexible, sustainable and cost-effective delivery option over the last mile, freeing up couriers to deliver orders over longer distances.

Starting from today, over 180,000 residents can take advantage of an eco-friendly, innovative delivery option via the Bolt Food app from three Bolt Market stores in Tallinn – Tulika, Pallasti and Mustika. Robot deliveries will be free to customers during the launch period.

Offering a convenient and sustainable delivery solution, the new service provides an easy and fun way for Bolt users to fill their fridges on-demand, in minutes. By providing customers with another alternative to jumping in the car to collect groceries, this collaboration furthers both companies’ shared goals of creating urban spaces with less traffic congestion.

Starship’s world-leading robots have completed 7 million deliveries and driven over 8.5 million miles – more than any other autonomous delivery provider. Electrically-powered, the average Starship robot delivery consumes as little energy as it takes to boil a kettle to make just one cup of tea. Starship robots have been operating at L4 autonomy since 2018 and they safely make 150,000 crossings globally every day – equivalent to 3 crossings per second. They can be found in more than 100 locations around the world.

Ahti Heinla, Co-founder and CEO of Starship Technologies, commented: “We’re thrilled to launch with Bolt today, bringing autonomous food delivery to even more customers in Tallinn. This collaboration is not just about convenience and greater choice; by integrating our robots into the Bolt Food app, we’re offering a sustainable, scalable last-mile delivery solution that reduces local traffic and emissions. It’s an exciting step forward for both companies as we continue to innovate and pave the way for greener cities across Europe.”

Jevgeni Kabanov, President of Bolt, commented: “With the launch of Starship Technologies robot deliveries in Tallinn we now provide a new delivery experience for Bolt Market customers. It’s a reflection of our shared roots with Starship in Estonian innovation, and we’re proud to bring that experience to power our Bolt Market grocery stores with innovative technology. With this delivery technology now available, we provide more options for them and enable even more choice and convenience for our shared customers.”

The service officially launched today with a special event held at Bolt’s headquarters in Tallinn.

-ENDS-

ABOUT STARSHIP TECHNOLOGIES:

Starship Technologies is revolutionising deliveries with autonomous robots. The robots are designed to deliver food, groceries, and packages locally in minutes. The delivery robots have travelled over 8 million miles and completed seven million autonomous deliveries around the world. Starship was founded by Ahti Heinla (Skype chief architect) and Janus Friis (Skype co-founder).

Website: https://www.starship.xyz

Facebook: @StarshipRobots

X (Twitter): @StarshipRobots

Instagram: @starshiprobots

ABOUT BOLT:

Bolt’s services are currently used by over 200 million customers in 50 countries and more than 600 cities in Europe and Africa. We offer a range of mobility products like ride-hailing, rentals, Bolt Food and Bolt Market. Bolt Market is a fast-delivery e-grocery store offering a wide range of products from fresh fruit and vegetables to household goods and toiletries. In Estonia, Bolt Market is available in Tallinn and Tartu.

The post Starship Technologies and Bolt launch robot-powered grocery delivery appeared first on Starship Technologies: Autonomous robot delivery - The future of delivery - today!.

Georgia Tech and University of New Mexico among new schools

Starship Marketplace launching to serve more students, ease staffing shortages 

SAN FRANCISCO | August 13, 2024 

Starship Technologies, the world’s leading provider of autonomous delivery services, today announced that it is expanding its service to new universities, adding to its existing 50 US campuses. In addition, the company will expand its wireless charging to 75 percent of its campuses and introduce Starship Marketplace for more ordering options.

The new schools include:

• Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) – service launches this week
• Southeast Missouri State University
• University of New Mexico 
• Prairie View A&M University
• California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly)

More schools will be announced throughout the fall semester.

Delivery hours vary by campus and will include a variety of national and local eateries at each university. Students can use funds from their dining program to order robot delivery, making it a seamless option.

Starship now reaches 1.5 million students with dining options from 900 merchants for its on-demand autonomous delivery at US campuses. Globally, Starship has completed nearly 7 million deliveries. 

“We are thrilled to partner with Starship Technologies,” said Ryan Greene, executive director of dining and retail at Georgia Tech. “These innovative delivery solutions will help us continue to prioritize innovation and exceptional service while adapting to our ever-changing community needs.”

Appetite for More

Starship robots have proven to be immensely popular wherever they provide service. Social media pages are devoted to them, and robot selfies are just as popular.

Universities have had to get creative to meet food demand while dealing with staffing shortages. The robots have been a key part of that solution and now Starship is introducing a new way to serve campus communities. 

Starship Marketplace expands ordering capabilities to include self-order kiosks and mobile pickup. These options help alleviate staffing shortages and serve more students where they are, without opening additional retail locations. The mobile pickup option lets students easily choose order pickup or robot delivery. Starship Marketplace accepts several forms of payment, including meal swipes (at select locations), credit/debit, Apple Pay, Google Pay and campus-specific declining balance.

Starship Marketplace will be available on about one-third of campuses where Starship provides services, including Oregon State University, George Mason University, James Madison University, Wichita State University and North Carolina A&T. More schools will be added throughout the year.

Starship is also continuing to expand its wireless charging, which will be available at the start of the fall semester to 75 percent of its campus locations. Wireless charging is more efficient and sustainable, as it allows the robots to drive themselves to the nearest charger and put themselves back in delivery mode when they are finished.

“Before we started campus services, delivery from campus dining often didn’t exist. We’re proud to be one of the reasons that it is now easier and more convenient for students to order food when and where they want it,” said Chris Neider, VP of business development at Starship Technologies. “As the staffing challenges continue to stretch campus dining resources, our new Starship Marketplace will add more options for students and make staffing more efficient. Students can order food from a kiosk or pick up their orders when that works better for them. Providing more value and listening to what our campus partners want is very important to us. We think the campus communities will love the new additions while still having the option of our very popular robot deliveries.” 

Starship Technologies operates commercially on a daily basis around the world. Its zero-emission robots make more than 150,000 road crossings every day and have completed nearly seven million commercial deliveries globally, more than any other autonomous delivery provider. 

# # #

About Starship Technologies

Starship Technologies is revolutionizing deliveries with autonomous robots. The robots are designed to deliver food, groceries and packages locally in minutes. The delivery robots have traveled millions of miles and completed nearly seven million autonomous deliveries around the world. Starship was founded by Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis (Skype Chief Architect and Co-founder). 

Website: https://www.starship.xyz/follow / starshipdeliveries.com

Facebook: @StarshipTechnologies

Twitter: @Starshiprobots

Instagram: @Starshiprobots

MEDIA CONTACTS

Janel Steinberg
Liberty Communications for Starship Technologies
starship@libertycomms.com
+1 415 429 5652 

 TO KEEP UP TO DATE WITH STARSHIP TECHNOLOGIES-RELATED NEWS, IMAGES AND VIDEO, SIGN UP AND DOWNLOAD AT:

https://www.starship.xyz/kit

The post Starship Technologies Adds New US College Campuses and New Technology for Fall Semester appeared first on Starship Technologies: Autonomous robot delivery - The future of delivery - today!.

S Group confirms service expansion to more than 100 stores by the end of the year

Emission-free robot deliveries have become well established during their first year of operation and will be introduced to a number of new areas in the future. Starship Technologies autonomous delivery robots have so far delivered more than 150,000 orders in Finland. A typical customer is a family with children, for whom the robot delivers milk, bananas and minced meat.

Robot delivery is popular across the board, orders have been placed on the S-kaupat app by both younger and elderly households as well as single person households and DINKS (dual income, no kids). However, a larger proportion of orders are made by families with children under school age, young people living in single households, and those between the ages of 25 and 44.

When it comes to delivery times, robot delivery purchases come in steadily every weekday, but the pace speeds up slightly towards the weekend. Saturday is the most popular order day and most orders are made in the evenings.

Over the past year, the most popular robot delivery items are: milk, bananas, minced meat, energy drinks, chicken fillet strips, rice pies, cream cheese, cucumber, iceberg lettuce and mini plum tomatoes. Robots deliver basic foodstuffs throughout the country, which means that the top 10 of the shopping list is very similar regardless of which city you are in.

S Group Business Developer Tiina Meyer, who develops home deliveries for S group’s online food store said:

“Robots make customers’ everyday life easier: they quickly deliver refills to homes when the refrigerator runs out of milk in the evening or bananas are needed for snacks the next day. Mainly, with robot delivery, you order the same products that you normally buy at the grocery store. Treats for weekend evenings and remote lunches are of course also ordered, and in the summer, for example, ice cream, says.

S Group’s partner in robot deliveries is Starship Technologies, which is the world’s leading developer and manufacturer of autonomous delivery robots.

Starship’s European Senior Business Development Director Sandra Beaumont said:

“We are excited to be able to celebrate the milestone together with the S group. Our robots do a great job delivering shopping to people all over Finland – and even more so during the long, very snowy last winter. Our operations in Finland show that Starship’s business model scales excellently and that people find the service valuable in their surrounding areas. We have just reached the 150,000-delivery mark in Finland and we are looking forward to more.”

BACKGROUND NOTES:

Order numbers: over 150,000 shipped orders

Robots were piloted in the capital region in 2022. The successful pilot led to a formal partnership between S Group and Starship to bring robots to stores across the country.

Robot deliveries started in May 2023 in Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa in more than ten Alepa stores and have expanded rapidly to almost 50 stores all over Finland during the year.

Robot delivery will expand to new stores and new areas during the spring and summer. New locations will be announced soon, but the plan it have robot delivery in 100 stores by the end of the year.

Robot delivery is currently available in 14 cities: Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Lohja, Karkkila, Somero, Salo, Tampere, Turku, Lieto, Pori, Rauma, Jyväskylä, Kuopio and Oulu. Robots deliver mostly from Alepa and Sale stores, but also from some S-markets.

Robot deliveries can be ordered in the S-kaupat application. Robot delivery has increased the popularity of the S-kaupat application, and through robot delivery orders, the application has been downloaded an estimated 20,000 times per month over the past year.

The customer feedback has been amazingly good – people especially love the music played by the robots when the customer receives the purchases (customers can order a song with their groceries!), for the delivery speed, and quite a few people comment on the cuteness of the robots as well, says Tiina Meyer.

For more information:

Tiina Meyer, Business Developer, S-group retail, tiina.meyer@sok.fi

On behalf of Starship Technologies, Harri Kammonen, PR Agency Manifesto, 040 500 1120, harri.kammonen@manifesto.fi

Starship Technologies is revolutionising transport services with autonomous robots. The robots are designed to deliver food, groceries and packages locally within minutes. The robots have travelled more than 13 million kilometres and made more than 6 million autonomous deliveries around the world. Starship was founded by Janus Friis (co-founder of Skype) and Ahti Heinla (chief architect of Skype), who is also the company’s CEO

The post S Group and Starship celebrate First Anniversary appeared first on Starship Technologies: Autonomous robot delivery - The future of delivery - today!.

Starship delivery robots arrive in Salo, Karkkila and Somero, as well as in Perttilä and Tynninharju in Lohja.

FINLAND | Tuesday 30 April 2024

In December last year, Suur-Seudun Osuuskauppa SSO started robot food delivery in Lohja at Sale Hiidensalmi. Since then, the delivery robots have been a familiar sight on the streets of downtown Lohja, arousing admiration as they pass by. Now the robotic delivery service is expanding, as S-market Karkkila, S-market Somero, S-market Tupuri and Sale Hermanni in the Salo region, and Sale Perttilä and S-market Tynninharju in Lohja will get their own delivery robots today.

Since its early days, Sale Hiidensalmi has been using the robo-delivery service extensively, which encouraged the cooperative to expand the service to new locations. 

 “We are delighted to be able to expand our range of robotic delivery services. After all, it’s an environmentally friendly and innovative new service. Many people already recognise robots from social media, for example, and they are quite sympathetic and fun to see on the streets,” says Heikki Vottonen, Division Director. 

 “It’s always exciting each time we launch service in a new town, introducing even more customers to our little robots and the convenience of on-demand autonomous delivery,” says Sandra Beaumont, Business Development Manager at Starship Technologies.

Customers will be able to choose emission-free, fast and easy-to-use robo-delivery when ordering their purchases from the S-kaupat mobile app. The robots have a range of up to three kilometers from the location, and orders are delivered to the customer within an hour. Store staff pack the customer’s purchases and lift them on board the delivery robot. The customer can follow the robot’s progress in real time via the app. When the robot arrives, the customer receives a notification on their phone. The lid of the delivery robot opens with the app and when the lid opens, a familiar song or melody starts playing to the delight of the customer. 

Designed by Starship Technologies, the robots use artificial intelligence and GPS positioning to plan routes. The robots mostly follow sidewalks and are agile enough to cross streets and climb curbs. The robots travel autonomously, but are always monitored by a human and any disruptions are handled by a human. The robots are equipped with 12 cameras and ultrasonic sensors and radar. During the winter, the robots can also cope well in the snow, although sometimes they may need outside help to continue their journey if the snow is very deep.

Looking forward to meeting new colleagues…

SSO staff are looking forward to welcoming their new colleagues. “It’s great to be able to offer our customers a new kind of service in the form of robotic transport. The robots will certainly attract attention when they move and will bring a smile to many peoples’ faces,” says Jorma Mynttinen, Store Manager at Sale Hermann.

Starship robots have travelled millions of kilometres and made more than six million autonomous deliveries around the world. They cross 150 000 roads every day, which means more than three crossings every second.  

Starship was founded by Janus Friis (co-founder of Skype) and Ahti Heinla (chief architect of Skype), who is also the company’s CEO.

Further information:

On behalf of Starship, Harri Kammonen, Manifesto Communications, 040 500 1120, harri.kammonen@manifesto.fi

Heikki Vottonen, Director, SSO, tel. 044 3205 600 , heikki.vottonen@sok.fi

Starship Technologies is revolutionising transport services with autonomous robots. The robots are designed to deliver food, groceries and packages locally within minutes. The robots have travelled more than 13 million kilometres and made more than 6 million autonomous deliveries around the world. Starship was founded by Janus Friis (co-founder of Skype) and Ahti Heinla (chief architect of Skype), who is also the company’s CEO.

The post S-Group expands its robot delivery offering in Finland appeared first on Starship Technologies: Autonomous robot delivery - The future of delivery - today!.

Collaboration with Cambourne Town Council will see robots from Starship Technologies recharge autonomously between grocery deliveries

LONDON | Tuesday 19th March 2024

Starship Technologies, the world’s leading provider of autonomous delivery services, has today announced the installation of the first wireless charging station for its robots in Europe. Thanks to a collaboration with Cambourne Town Council, a fleet of Starship robots will now recharge autonomously between making grocery deliveries across Cambourne in Cambridgeshire.

Since first launching its autonomous delivery service in Cambourne back in May 2022, offering quick and convenient groceries from the Co-op store at 29 Mosquito Road in Upper Cambourne, Starship’s robots have become a popular sight in the neighbourhood. The on-demand, convenient and environmentally friendly service has helped cut down on car journeys and provided a valuable solution to people living with mobility challenges.

Starship first introduced wireless charging stations on George Mason University campus in the US over six months ago. Introduction in Cambourne marks the first European installation and will strengthen Starship’s commitment to make its delivery offering even more sustainable.

Starship now expects to further reduce emissions in Cambourne as robots will no longer need to be couriered by van between service areas. Wireless charging is more energy-efficient, allowing the robots to charge up overnight, while they’re sleeping, on-site. In this way, wireless charging will also lower the cost of providing autonomous delivery services in the long term.

Danny Pass, Director of European Field Operations at Starship Technologies, said: “People in Cambourne have told us how much they love Starship’s robot delivery service, and now we’re making it even more environmentally friendly by rolling out the first ever autonomous wireless charging stations in Europe. Cambourne is leading the way! When they’re low on energy, the little guys will take themselves to charge, then get back to work when they’re re-energised. We’re really proud to have worked with the Town Council to bring new innovation and technology into the community.”

John Vickery, Cambourne Town Clerk, commented: “For nearly two years now, Starship’s robots have been embraced and widely welcomed as part of the local community. So we are very proud that Cambourne has been chosen as the location for the first European installation of wireless charging facilities for the robots.”

Chris Conway, Co-op ecommerce Director, said: “We are facing a climate and environmental crisis, and Co-op is committed to cutting carbon emissions from its own operations and, supply chain. We know that the autonomous, quick and convenient delivery of groceries can reduce the number of short car journeys locally, and are pleased to see the introduction of wireless charging designed to further improve the energy efficiency of robot deliveries.”

Starship’s 2,000+ fleet of robots operate 99% autonomously and complete 150,000 crossings globally every day. The average delivery takes only the same amount of energy to boil a kettle for one cup of tea. Last month, Starship announced its latest funding round had seen a further $90m (£71m+) raised as the company continues to bring the benefits of autonomous delivery to local neighbourhoods and university campuses in more than 80 locations around the world.

In the UK, the robots are already a firm favourite in households across several other towns and cities including Leeds, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Trafford and Wakefield. Since launching commercial service in 2018, Starship’s robots have completed more than six million autonomous deliveries around the world, more than any other provider.

The robots are lightweight and travel at the speed of a pedestrian (no faster than 4mph). They use a combination of sensors, artificial intelligence and machine learning to travel on pavements and navigate around any obstacles, while computer vision-based navigation helps them map their environment to the nearest inch.

-ENDS-

About Starship Technologies:

Starship Technologies is revolutionizing deliveries with autonomous robots. The robots are designed to deliver food, groceries and packages locally in minutes. The delivery robots have traveled over 11 million km and completed over six million autonomous deliveries around the
world. Starship was founded by Janus Friis (Skype co-founder) and Ahti Heinla (Skype chief architect) who is also CEO.

Website: https://www.starship.xyz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StarshipRobots
X: @StarshipRobots
Instagram: @starshiprobots

MEDIA CONTACTS:

James Meredith / Hope Bradley
Liberty Communications
starship@libertycomms.com
[Images available upon request]

The post Cambourne to host Europe’s first wireless charging station for robots appeared first on Starship Technologies: Autonomous robot delivery - The future of delivery - today!.

Tallinn, Estonia and San Francisco, US | 6th February 2024

• Starship Technologies is the world’s leading autonomous delivery service, with robots delivering goods across six markets including the US and UK 
• Starship robots are self-driving and have made over six million deliveries from takeaway orders to groceries, replacing car journeys and reducing carbon emissions at scale
• Companies including Bolt, Co-Op, Aramark, Sodexo, Chartwells and Grubhub rely on Starship’s robots to reach customers 
• New funding will go towards expanding operations, further investing in its world-leading technology and reaching millions more people

Starship Technologies, the company making science fiction a reality by putting delivery robots on streets in the US and Europe, is announcing it has raised $90 million, co-led by Plural and Iconical. The new funding, which brings the total raised by Starship to $230M since its creation in 2014, will be used to expand globally as Starship looks to take advantage of the unstoppable rise in demand for home deliveries. 

Launched in 2014, Starship’s delivery robots have become a common sight on streets across Europe and the US and the company is now the world’s leading autonomous delivery service, making more than six million deliveries and transforming last-mile delivery. Found in 80 locations across the world including the US, UK, Germany, Denmark, Estonia and Finland, the robots use less energy than humans* to deliver takeaways, grocery orders, tools and corporate documents to customers’ doors. 

Taking on the supply chain’s difficult last mile

Last-mile and on-demand delivery, the most costly and carbon-intensive aspect of the supply chain, has been a stumbling block for logistics businesses across the world, yet demand is growing for rapid deliveries of food and other goods. The online food delivery market in particular is expected to more than double by 2030, whilst the carbon emissions from last-mile delivery in Europe alone are expected to reach 5.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2032, the equivalent to 1.2 million gas-powered cars. Starship has created the most cost-effective, ethical and sustainable way to deliver goods directly to a customer over a short distance, solving the last-mile delivery industry’s major challenges. 

Each Starship robot can run for 18 hours fully charged, and the average delivery takes only the same amount of energy as boiling a kettle for a single cup of tea. Since launch, Starship robots have reduced almost 1.8M kg of carbon dioxide. As well, by using robots, rather than humans on low wages riding through traffic, it has pioneered a more ethical, sustainable business that is used by customers including Bolt, Co-Op, Grubhub and Sodexo. 

Perfecting autonomous technology

Starship has been able to make autonomous delivery a commercial reality by perfecting its technology over the past 10 years. The robots are 99% autonomous and can react safely to difficult situations and obstacles, including snow, rocky terrain and blockages en route, with three crossings made on average every second around the world. It took six years for Starship to reach one million deliveries and half that to complete the next five million. 

Recently, Starship introduced groundbreaking wireless charging for its robots at George Mason University in the US. In a world’s first, Starship robots can now recharge autonomously and wirelessly in between deliveries. Starship plans to roll out its wireless charging solution globally in the months to come, adding further efficiencies to the last-mile delivery process and fulfilling the vision of creating a fully autonomous system that can easily be deployed at scale.

Investing in an innovative team

Over the past 10 years, Starship has created a world-class team of engineers, data scientists, designers and operations specialists which are driving forward the new world of sustainable, autonomous logistics. Its team members are based at the founding office in Tallinn, Estonia, in its global HQ, San Francisco and across the US, UK, Denmark, Finland and Germany.

The new investment round will enable Starship to use continuing advances in AI and machine learning to further develop its AI, tech and wireless charging infrastructure, as it expands to more markets internationally – particularly with its Delivery as a Service (DaaS) product, which sees Starship robots integrate into the delivery infrastructure of its partners. 

Ahti Heinla, Co-founder and CEO at Starship Technologies, said: “Autonomous delivery isn’t some science fiction concept from Bladerunner for decades in the future, it’s a reality for hundreds of thousands of people every day. Building a company like Starship takes at least a decade of perfecting the technology, streamlining operations and reducing costs to make last-mile autonomous delivery viable and sustainable at scale. Now we’re ready to take on the world and with ambitions to build a category-dominating company that can change the daily lives of millions of people in thousands of locations worldwide.”

Taavet Hinrikus, Partner at Plural, said: “Starship is the global leader in autonomous technology, built in Europe. For the past 10 years, the team have been working tirelessly to build the most advanced autonomous logistics technology in the world, driving more miles and making more deliveries than any other company, whilst reducing the impact of last-mile and on-demand delivery on the planet. The culmination of this hard work over the past decade and this new funding means Starship is well-positioned for accelerated growth. We’re looking forward to supporting Ahti and the team on this journey to becoming one of Europe’s most successful global companies.” 

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

* Starship robots use 110 watts of energy at full speed, compared to an average human walking speed which is 300 watts (reference one and two)

Contact: Antonella Scimemi – antonella@burlington.cc

ABOUT STARSHIP TECHNOLOGIES

Starship Technologies is revolutionizing deliveries with autonomous robots. The robots are designed to deliver food, groceries and packages locally in minutes. The delivery robots have traveled over 11 million kilometers and completed over six million autonomous deliveries around the world. Starship was founded by Janus Friis (Skype co-founder) and Ahti Heinla (Skype chief architect) who is also CEO.

ABOUT PLURAL:

Plural is an early-stage investment fund that backs the most ambitious founders on a mission to change the world through technology. Plural launched in June 2022 with the aim to give serious founders in Europe investors with experience to match their ambition. Based in Tallinn, Estonia and London, UK, Plural’s mission is to have GDP-level impact on Europe, address systemic risks and reduce the opportunity gap worldwide through the companies it backs. https://pluralplatform.com

ABOUT ICONICAL:

Iconical supports breakthrough technology startups and ideas, investing selectively in rare and special companies with capacity to affect positive change on a global scale. https://iconical.com

The post Robot delivery leader Starship Technologies raises $90 million led by Plural and Iconical appeared first on Starship Technologies: Autonomous robot delivery - The future of delivery - today!.

Mason students have placed nearly 500,000 delivery orders since 2019

Exclusive giveaways throughout the week to celebrate the anniversary

FAIRFAX, VA AND SAN FRANCISCO | January 23, 2024

Starship Technologies, the world’s leading provider of autonomous delivery services, and Sodexo, Inc. today announced a series of milestones and exclusive giveaways to mark five years of autonomous robot deliveries at George Mason University (Mason).

Mason was the first university in the US to offer autonomous robot deliveries provided by Starship. Since the launch on January 22, 2019, Starship’s robots are now serving more than 1.1 million people across 50 US college campuses as well as in local neighborhoods in several other countries. 

Mason Dining and Starship will be offering giveaways at select merchants throughout the week to celebrate the milestone. Lucky students will receive exclusive anniversary swag, Starship promo codes, Mason Dining merch, and more. Details of the daily giveaways can be found in the Starship Food Delivery app. 

At the time of launch, Mason had the world’s largest fleet of delivery robots on a college campus. That initial fleet of 25 robots has now more than doubled to 60. In addition, the merchant locations have increased from 4 to 18.

Here are some other interesting stats related to Starship at Mason:

• Nearly half a million deliveries (458,846)
• 474,225 miles covered by the fleet of robots
• Most orders made by one student since launch: 880 orders (good thing the robots are included on the student meal plan!)
• The most popular item ordered since launch: The Original Double ‘N Fries from Steak ‘n Shake (15,779 times)
• Mac & Cheese had a big 2023: it was ordered 3,236 times and took the lead compared to what had been the overall most popular item
• Most popular delivery song played: Barbie World by Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice (552 times)
• February 16 was the busiest day in 2023 with 857 deliveries

When Starship started service at Mason in 2019, its robots had completed 25,000 deliveries and traveled more than 150,000 miles. Today, the global fleet of more than 2,000 robots has completed more than 5 million deliveries and traveled more than 7 million miles. Mason students can now customize their robot delivery with characters and songs. Mason is also the first campus to implement wireless charging to increase utilization and efficiency.

“Starship robots are an important part of daily campus life at Mason,” said Roshonda Alexander, retail general manager at Sodexo. “We took a bit of a risk five years ago when we introduced the robots but we haven’t looked back since. The technology was embraced by our students and faculty as well as our merchants. We’re all about making lives easier for our students. The robots have done that and provided a fun technology that just makes people happy.”

Chris Neider, VP of Business Development at Starship Technologies, said “It’s hard to believe that we’re already celebrating five years of service at Mason. As our first campus, we were very happy to partner with a school like Mason that wanted to innovate and bring this new technology to their community. We were surprised at how quickly the robots became such a beloved part of campus while also seamlessly integrating into campus life. They really help set the stage for all of our campus success that has developed and we are very happy to be celebrating this achievement.”

Starship Technologies operates commercially on a daily basis around the world. Its zero-emission robots make more than 150,000 road crossings every day and have completed more than five million commercial deliveries globally, more than any other autonomous delivery provider.

-ENDS-

ABOUT STARSHIP TECHNOLOGIES:

Starship Technologies is revolutionizing deliveries with autonomous robots. The robots are designed to deliver food, groceries and packages locally in minutes. The delivery robots have traveled millions of miles and completed five million autonomous deliveries around the world. Starship was founded by Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis (Skype Chief Architect and Co-founder). 

Website: https://www.starship.xyz 

Facebook: @StarshipTechnologies

Twitter: @StarshipRobots

Instagram: @starshiprobots

ABOUT SODEXO NORTH AMERICA

Sodexo North America is part of a global, Fortune 500 company with a presence in 45 countries. Sodexo specializes in sustainable food service and valued experiences, in all 50 U.S. states, Canada, Puerto Rico and Guam, at every moment in life: learn, work, heal and play. Additionally, the company indirectly supports additional jobs through its annual purchases of goods and services from small to large businesses. Sodexo North America is committed to meeting the challenges of everyday life with a dual goal: to improve the quality of life of our employees and those we serve, and contribute to the economic, social and environmental progress in the communities where we operate. Our purpose is to create a better everyday for everyone to build a better life for all.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Liberty Communications

starship@libertycomms.com

TO KEEP UP TO DATE WITH STARSHIP TECHNOLOGIES RELATED NEWS, IMAGES AND VIDEO, SIGN UP AND DOWNLOAD AT:

https://www.starship.xyz/kit

The post Starship Technologies Celebrates 5 Years of Autonomous Robot Deliveries at George Mason University appeared first on Starship Technologies: Autonomous robot delivery - The future of delivery - today!.