In an attempt to turn on-demand delivery lucrative, Robomart, a business that creates self-driving delivery robots, is revealing its newest robot.
On Monday, an LA-based company introduced its patented Robomart RM5. Ten separate lockers contain customer orders, and the level-four autonomous truck can handle up to 500 pounds. A robot can handle several deliveries at once because to this structure’s ability to support batch ordering.
Ali Ahmed, the CEO and co-founder of Robomart, told TechCrunch that the company intends to employ these new robots to run an on-demand delivery business model like to that of well-known food delivery companies. Under this strategy, retailers collaborate with Robomart to set up their own stores on Robomart’s app, which functions similarly to DoorDash or UberEats.
The cost structure for the clients is varied. The company expects that the flat $3 delivery fee that customers pay each time they place an order from Robomart would be a far more alluring alternative than the various fees that other delivery apps usually charge, Ahmed added.
Ahmed stated that:
“We see this as building our own autonomous marketplace. That is something that is pretty unique in this space, an autonomous marketplace for on-demand delivery using self-driving robots.”
With the intention to officially introduce the delivery service later this year, Robomart is planing on starting onboarding retailers in Austin, Texas, its earliest market, over the span of the months that follow.
Roots of Robomart have been further established thanks to this announcement. The business was established in 2017 and began testing an autonomous “store on wheels” in 2020, delivering a mobile, self-sufficient store filled with products like ice cream and prescription drugs straight to consumers upon request.
As stated by Ahmed, the transformation of the company to on-demand delivery was an appropriate next phase following its initial “store on wheels” approach. In addition, he proceeded to explain that the company knew form the beginning that it was planning to target on-demand deliveries.
Ahmed established Dispatch Messenger, a U.K.-based on-demand delivery platform, in 2015 before Robomart. Ahmed claimed that his former business was unable to maintain profitability while continuing to use human delivery workers due to fiscal constraints. This caused him to narrow his focus on lowering expenses automation. Ahmed thinks they’ve figured out the code now.
Ahmed said:
“Our robots bring the cost of a delivery down by up to 70%. That is a critical difference. If you are paying a driver $18 an hour, your cost, just for that driver, is $9 to $10 an hour.”
Ahmed said he’s quite proud of Robomart’s ability to reach this position with so little investment. The business has raised less than $5 million from a variety of investors, including Wasabi Ventures, SOSV, and Hustle Fund.
Ahmed added:
“We have raised almost $4 million in funding, and that has enabled us to build five generations of robots and now deploy the first autonomous marketplace for the road. I’m proud of our team, and it’s a testament to how much we have been able to achieve.”
Although there are many big, established companies in the congested on-demand delivery business, such as GrubHub and UberEats, Ahmed believes Robomart is introducing a completely new offering at a price that would appeal to customers.
He also said:
“To give them this incredible proposition of $3 and no other charges, just [price] markups in themselves can be prohibitively expensive. They don’t even realize they are paying that markup and the other fees and the tips. This makes [our model] very attractive to the retailers and customers.”
