Robot delivery startup Kiwibot is holding an online keynote this morning to announce the newest version of its semi-autonomous rover bot, as well as new partnerships with the Knight Foundation, Chick-fil-A and Segway.
We’ll be attending the virtual conference and will fill in more details aftewards, but here is what the company has shared with The Spoon ahead of time.
Kiwibot says that its robots have already completed more than 150,000 food deliveries. The company recently started making deliveries in Santa Monica, CA and through its relationship with Shopfiy, will be expanding across Los Angeles, San Jose, Miami, Pittsburg, and Detroit.
Version 4.0 of its robot has a whole new set of on-board cameras, lights and speakers. The Level-3 autonomous robots are equipped with sensors to detect people, traffic lights, and vehicles and are remotely supported by human teleoperators.
Kiwibot also appears to be broadening into indoor food delivery. The company said that food and drinks can be ordered through local businesses using Shopify web portals and deliveries can be made on city streets, college campuses, malls and airports. The robots will make deliveries up to a mile away, taking roughly 30 minutes and costing $1.99 per delivery.
Kiwibot has also entered into a manufacturing agreement with Segway, and, separately, will begin piloting a delivery program with Chick-fil-A. Specifics about each of these programs such as manufacturing scale or the size of the Chick-fil-A pilot were not provided ahead of time.
Again, this post will be updated with more details following Kiwibot’s press conference this morning.
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