In general, there are three categories of delivery robot-as-a-service offerings, organized and determined primarily based on delivery mileage.

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1. Public-road autonomous delivery robots

These are autonomous delivery robot vehicles that can travel on public roads and are capable of handling city-range or town-range deliveries (5-20km radius). RaaS companies in this space include uDelv, Robomart, AutoX and nuro. There are pure-delivery players that have a per-delivery fee model  (e.g. nuro - $5.95 per delivery) and there are hybrid delivery-and-grocery-on-wheels players (e.g. AutoX, Robomart) which charges based on grocery purchases and/or delivery from its delivery vehicles.

Robomart. Robomart is a San Francisco-based US firm that provides autonomous "mini-mart" vehicles. Its revenue is derived from the grocery purchases made on Robotmart vehicles. The firm is currently running a pilot program in the greater Boston area with Stop & Shop.

View a demonstration of Robomart's "mini-mart" on wheels below.

nuro. Nuro is a US-based firm that develops the same-name unmanned delivery robot vehicle nuro which is "a self-driving vehicle made for local goods transportation". The firm has started a pilot program with Domino's for pizza delivery in Houston and another with Fry's Food Stores in Arizona for groceries at $5.95 per delivery.

Compare the business model of Robomart with nuro

Watch how customers obtain their deliveries from the nuro robot vehicle.

AutoX. AutoX is a US-based company makes use of its autonomous delivery vehicles to provide robo-deliveries. The revenue model is based on item purchases at in-app and in-vehicle stores and delivery fees.

Compare the service model of nuro with AutoX

Watch how the AutoX vehicle perform robo-deliveries below.

UDelv. UDelv is based in California, United States and provides an end-to-end autonomous delivery robot solutions to merchants. Its autonomous delivery robot vehicles (ADVs) can drive at highway speeds of up to 60mph and handle deliveries of over 800 lbs and up to 32 customer orders per cycle.

Compare service models of UDelv with AutoX

2. Community delivery robots

These are autonomous delivery robots that make deliveries within 5-6km radius (typically using sidewalks and small-roads) and target local communities and campuses. RaaS companies in this space include Starship,  HelloWorld TARS, Eliport, Marble and Kiwibot. Most of these companies charge on a per-delivery model, ranging from US$1.99 (Starship) to US$3.80 (Kiwibot).

Starship. Starship is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, with its main engineering team based in Estonia. Its fleet of robots can deliver items within a 4-mile (6 km) radius, making local delivery faster, safer and more cost-efficient. To date, Starship's fleet of robots has completed 100,000 deliveries, charging customers about $1.99 per order.

Compare Starship with HelloWorld TARS

HelloWorld TARS. Most of the local-delivery robotics firms covered in this article are based in the United States. HelloWorld Robotics hails from the Southeast Asian country of Malaysia, a twelve-hour timezone difference from most of the local-delivery competition. HelloWorld Robotics has developed TARS, the first autonomous last mile delivery robot in Southeast Asia. The TARS delivery robots are being piloted in Cyberjaya, Malaysia, serving customers within a radius of 1-2 km.

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