DoorDash has announced plans to expand its services by introducing restaurant reservations and autonomous robot deliveries in select U.S. markets. The company, based in San Francisco, said the move aims to support its partner merchants and meet rising customer demand.
In the second quarter of this year, DoorDash reported a 20% increase in total orders, reaching 761 million. The new initiatives are expected to help maintain this growth trajectory. However, investors responded cautiously to the announcement, with DoorDash shares declining by 1% on Tuesday.
Stanley Tang, Co-Founder of DoorDash, addressed the shift toward automation during an interview at the company’s headquarters. “The shift to autonomy is happening right now, and DoorDash is uniquely positioned to do something like this,” Tang said. “We need to find ways to keep up with the demand. The complexity of the deliveries being made on our platform is increasing too.”
DoorDash’s expansion could impact competitors such as OpenTable and Instacart. After DoorDash revealed an expanded partnership with Kroger for delivery from 2,700 stores nationwide, Instacart’s stock fell by 10%.
The company will introduce a “Going Out” tab that allows users to book restaurant tables—initially available in New York and Miami before expanding later this year. In other cities where reservations are not yet offered, customers can use the tab for rewards and in-store offers. DashPass members will receive additional benefits such as access to exclusive table reservations.
This reservation feature follows DoorDash’s acquisition of SevenRooms—a New York-based provider of reservation and hospitality management software—for $1.2 billion earlier this year.
According to DoorDash, these features help deepen relationships with restaurants and attract new patrons. Testing in San Francisco showed that 80% of “Going Out” users visited restaurants they had never ordered from before.
For deliveries in suburban areas around Phoenix, Arizona, DoorDash will deploy an autonomous robot called Dot. Designed over seven years by DoorDash engineers after finding existing robots inadequate for suburban environments, Dot can travel at speeds up to 20 miles per hour across streets and sidewalks while carrying up to six large pizza boxes or 30 pounds of cargo.
Tang described how operational data influenced Dot’s design: “After 10 billion deliveries, we have data on what works, what breaks and what scales.” He added that hundreds of successful test runs have already been completed in Tempe and Mesa.
If trials continue successfully, Dot may be introduced into additional markets across the United States soon.
DoorDash has also been piloting drone delivery services in Australia as well as parts of Texas and North Carolina over several years. According to Tang: “Our vision is hybrid, human delivery and autonomy working together to expand access to more people.”
The company currently operates in more than 30 countries worldwide.
