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I really want to see how they figure out the actual delivery of the food. Obviously the cars can drive themselves on public streets, but how do you go up to so

I really want to see how they figure out the actual delivery of the food. Obviously the cars can drive themselves on public streets, but how do you go up to someone's house and put a burger on their doorstep?

codyklimdev 1y ago
I have to assume rather than solving that problem the car will park on the curb and people will be expected to walk down and get it
- cudgy 1y ago
  People will love that when it’s raining or in snow. What about in cities where you can’t even find parking? Or you live on the 30th floor of an apartment complex? Lol these companies are so stupid.
  - JumpCrisscross 1y ago
    > What about in cities where you can’t even find parking? Or you live on the 30th floor of an apartment complex? Lol these companies are so stupid Do you think these drivers currently run around with two to a car, one to keep the engine running while they go around the block while the other goes upstairs?
    - cudgy 1y ago
      Huh? Why would I think that? My comment is regarding the customer. With an automated delivery the customer receives the goods at the location where the delivery vehicle can park near the destination. Without automated delivery, the human receives the goods at their front door.
      - JumpCrisscross 1y ago
        > Without automated delivery, the human receives the goods at their front door Fair enough. Not really an issue in Phoenix. Plenty of buildings (in San Francisco and Atlanta, to memory) require delivery to be dropped off at a centralized location. And there aren’t many high rises, or months of monsoon, in Phoenix.
        cudgy 1y ago
        Phoenix would be a city where this will be less of an issue for sure, but you still have two and three story apartment buildings that require customers to go downstairs for their food. Having to go outside significantly reduces the benefit of delivery. Now customers have to interrupt what they’re doing, make sure they look OK so the neighbors don’t see their underwear and bed hair, put on a jacket or raincoat in bad weather, possibly wait on 2 elevators, and pick up their food right next to their own car in the parking lot. In some cases, this could take five minutes. Customer realizes that they could just get in their car and drive to the restaurant at this point, so why order for delivery? Makes no sense.
        JumpCrisscross 1y ago
        > In some cases, this could take five minutes. Customer realizes that they could just get in their car and drive to the restaurant at this point, so why order for delivery? What? They’d stumble down in pyjamas. If they’re in a building that probably means exiting and re-entering a parking garage. Also, it’s Phoenix. Nothing is five minutes away—the urban plan is one of sprawl. I agree it’s less convenient than door delivery. But against that is the cost of tipping and humans getting lost. For it is the fact that in many major cities, people routinely order food delivery despite being required by building policy to pick it up downstairs.
        cudgy 1y ago
        I think we’ve exhausted this discussion. It’s reduced down to simple individual opinions about whether it’s worth it to drive to a restaurant or not. I only wanted to point out that The customers are getting less not more. And the companies will make less money because the automated cars are more expensive than drivers that are willing to take food for 2 to 3 dollars a delivery. If you fail to see that or recognize it, I’ll leave it at that.
  - infecto 1y ago
    You clearly have never used these services or are out of touch. Having a human deliver kind of sucks, lots of risk of tampering with food and it’s overall a terrible experience especially for women. This is a brilliant fix, for the case of folks wanting it physically delivered, I am sure you can or will be able to pay for that.
  - School-Cotton 1y ago
    > when it’s raining or in snow Outside of the late summer monsoon, there is rarely serious rain in Phoenix, and virtually never snow. Probably at least part of why the pilot program is there. There also aren’t many 30-floor residential buildings. Phoenix is basically the quintessential American West suburban sprawl town: outside of a proportionally very small downtown it’s entirely dominated by houses and occasional 2-3 story apartment complexes.
ElijahLynn 1y ago
Yeah the article is extremely light on details. It basically just announced a partnership and not any of the specifics.
- McNulty2 1y ago
  Well they did mention one specific, and that is the fact that this service is only for DashMart orders i.e. the first part of any autonomous delivery order is at a DoorDash -controlled and -staffed facility. Where they can babysit the process. To me that pickup part seems almost more difficult than the delivery end of the journey. If you think about a busy restaurant with app-delivery orders piling up on the counter, how is that order going to get into the autonomous vehicle outside or down the road? Maybe a new service will spring up called mini-Dash where a human has a job running the orders down to the waiting vehicles?
toephu2 1y ago
It won't. You're supposed to open the car door and grab your food.
inerte 1y ago
From https://waymo.com/blog/2025/10/your-doordash-order-delivered-by-waymo https://waymo.com/blog/2025/10/your-doordash-order-delivered... "When Waymo arrives, open the trunk with your DoorDash app and grab your items."
- themafia 1y ago
  Sweet. Now I can turn unsuspecting Waymo cars into drug delivery vehicles. It's the perfect cover.
  - dzhiurgis 1y ago
    And leave a massive digital trail with it. Genius!
    - sciencejerk 1y ago
      Use stolen CC on App, pick up somewhere seedy far away from where you live. OP is right, this will be abused. What is keeping people from dumping weird things into the truck after picking up their $15 cheeseburger?
      - npteljes 1y ago
        Probably cameras that get installed the minute these start to happen.
- mbesto 1y ago
  It also implies that the restaurant has to walk out to the car and place it in the car too. They aint gonna like that. Although to be fair most restaurants already hate the drivers that physically come into their restaurants and don't obey the rules.

codyklimdev 1y ago

I have to assume rather than solving that problem the car will park on the curb and people will be expected to walk down and get it

cudgy 1y ago
People will love that when it’s raining or in snow. What about in cities where you can’t even find parking? Or you live on the 30th floor of an apartment complex? Lol these companies are so stupid.
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago
  > What about in cities where you can’t even find parking? Or you live on the 30th floor of an apartment complex? Lol these companies are so stupid Do you think these drivers currently run around with two to a car, one to keep the engine running while they go around the block while the other goes upstairs?
  - cudgy 1y ago
    Huh? Why would I think that? My comment is regarding the customer. With an automated delivery the customer receives the goods at the location where the delivery vehicle can park near the destination. Without automated delivery, the human receives the goods at their front door.
    - JumpCrisscross 1y ago
      > Without automated delivery, the human receives the goods at their front door Fair enough. Not really an issue in Phoenix. Plenty of buildings (in San Francisco and Atlanta, to memory) require delivery to be dropped off at a centralized location. And there aren’t many high rises, or months of monsoon, in Phoenix.
      - cudgy 1y ago
        Phoenix would be a city where this will be less of an issue for sure, but you still have two and three story apartment buildings that require customers to go downstairs for their food. Having to go outside significantly reduces the benefit of delivery. Now customers have to interrupt what they’re doing, make sure they look OK so the neighbors don’t see their underwear and bed hair, put on a jacket or raincoat in bad weather, possibly wait on 2 elevators, and pick up their food right next to their own car in the parking lot. In some cases, this could take five minutes. Customer realizes that they could just get in their car and drive to the restaurant at this point, so why order for delivery? Makes no sense.
        JumpCrisscross 1y ago
        > In some cases, this could take five minutes. Customer realizes that they could just get in their car and drive to the restaurant at this point, so why order for delivery? What? They’d stumble down in pyjamas. If they’re in a building that probably means exiting and re-entering a parking garage. Also, it’s Phoenix. Nothing is five minutes away—the urban plan is one of sprawl. I agree it’s less convenient than door delivery. But against that is the cost of tipping and humans getting lost. For it is the fact that in many major cities, people routinely order food delivery despite being required by building policy to pick it up downstairs.
        cudgy 1y ago
        I think we’ve exhausted this discussion. It’s reduced down to simple individual opinions about whether it’s worth it to drive to a restaurant or not. I only wanted to point out that The customers are getting less not more. And the companies will make less money because the automated cars are more expensive than drivers that are willing to take food for 2 to 3 dollars a delivery. If you fail to see that or recognize it, I’ll leave it at that.
- infecto 1y ago
  You clearly have never used these services or are out of touch. Having a human deliver kind of sucks, lots of risk of tampering with food and it’s overall a terrible experience especially for women. This is a brilliant fix, for the case of folks wanting it physically delivered, I am sure you can or will be able to pay for that.
- School-Cotton 1y ago
  > when it’s raining or in snow Outside of the late summer monsoon, there is rarely serious rain in Phoenix, and virtually never snow. Probably at least part of why the pilot program is there. There also aren’t many 30-floor residential buildings. Phoenix is basically the quintessential American West suburban sprawl town: outside of a proportionally very small downtown it’s entirely dominated by houses and occasional 2-3 story apartment complexes.

ElijahLynn 1y ago

Yeah the article is extremely light on details. It basically just announced a partnership and not any of the specifics.

McNulty2 1y ago
Well they did mention one specific, and that is the fact that this service is only for DashMart orders i.e. the first part of any autonomous delivery order is at a DoorDash -controlled and -staffed facility. Where they can babysit the process. To me that pickup part seems almost more difficult than the delivery end of the journey. If you think about a busy restaurant with app-delivery orders piling up on the counter, how is that order going to get into the autonomous vehicle outside or down the road? Maybe a new service will spring up called mini-Dash where a human has a job running the orders down to the waiting vehicles?

toephu2 1y ago

It won't. You're supposed to open the car door and grab your food.

inerte 1y ago

From https://waymo.com/blog/2025/10/your-doordash-order-delivered-by-waymo https://waymo.com/blog/2025/10/your-doordash-order-delivered... "When Waymo arrives, open the trunk with your DoorDash app and grab your items."

themafia 1y ago
Sweet. Now I can turn unsuspecting Waymo cars into drug delivery vehicles. It's the perfect cover.
- dzhiurgis 1y ago
  And leave a massive digital trail with it. Genius!
  - sciencejerk 1y ago
    Use stolen CC on App, pick up somewhere seedy far away from where you live. OP is right, this will be abused. What is keeping people from dumping weird things into the truck after picking up their $15 cheeseburger?
    - npteljes 1y ago
      Probably cameras that get installed the minute these start to happen.
mbesto 1y ago
It also implies that the restaurant has to walk out to the car and place it in the car too. They aint gonna like that. Although to be fair most restaurants already hate the drivers that physically come into their restaurants and don't obey the rules.