Technology

Rappi is trying out last-mile deliveries with Kiwi’s food delivery bots

To reduce the need for physical contact, deliveries are only available for orders placed in restaurants that accept digital payments

Colombian app Rappi logo on smartphone screen
Photo: Shutterstock
  • As an effort to encourage social distancing, the last-mile deliveries with robots are being tested in the area of El Poblado, Medellín, only for orders placed in restaurants that operate digital payments;
  • From California, startup Kiwi Campus was born to offer food delivery with robots for campus colleges.

Colombian super app Rappi announced this Thursday in a press release that is testing last-mile deliveries with robots from California-based KiwiBot in Medellín, Colombia.

For now, 120 orders per day are being delivered thanks to the operation of 15 robots and tests are set to happen until July 8. Focused on reducing the contact between people in times of social distancing, the company assured that at the moment, these bots are only being used to orders placed in restaurants that operate digital payments and for last-mile deliveries.

For Matías Laks, Rappi’s country manager for Colombia, “to think that deliveries with robots, an idea that some years ago seemed distant, is now a reality in our country, makes us immensely proud.”

Robots making deliveries at Rappi consumers’ doorsteps in Medellín, Colombia. Media: Twitter

We will keep working with new technologies, innovating, because at Rappi we are convinced that hand in hand with technology we will be able to continue contributing to our goal of making people’s lives easier, safely, especially in situations like this in which we find ourselves.

Matías Laks, Country manager for colombia at rappi, in a press release

Felipe Chávez, co-founder and CEO at Kiwi, stated that “the new reality we are facing makes us think of new possibilities. At KiwiBot, we are pleased to be able to work with Rappi to offer them our experience and thus be able to reach more and more people with a service that contributes to cities, businesses and users.” Kiwi Campus, also referred to as Kiwi, is an on-demand service focused on last-mile deliveries. The startup was born to offer food delivery with robots for campus colleges.

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