Starship Bot

Starship Technologies (founded 2014 by Skype co-founders Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis) makes the Starship Bot, a six-wheeled insulated-cargo autonomous sidewalk delivery robot and the captive-service archetype of the sidewalk-delivery cohort. It is operator-supervised Level 4: it runs autonomously on sidewalks with remote human oversight and takeover available, not driverless. Starship operates its own fleet and integrates with delivery apps (Uber Eats, Just Eat, Bolt, Foodora, Grubhub, Wolt) plus grocers and retailers; it does not sell robots to third parties. Operational scale (April 2026, Starship-direct): more than 10 million cumulative autonomous deliveries, 3,000-plus robots, 300-plus service areas across 8 countries, 65-plus US university campuses, and 22 million-plus autonomous kilometers. Funding ran through a Series C led by Plural with more than $280 million cumulative; the valuation is not disclosed, so DEPLOY cap-flags aggregator-quoted valuation figures. As a captive B2B delivery service, there is no consumer price.

Readiness

Starship Bot is internal use only (not for retail) at $3,000-$7,000 (analyst estimate), the 1 capability claim on file is all autonomous with verified, 6 verified deployments are on file, and 2 incidents are on record.

Availability

internal-only

Internal use only (not for retail).

see evidence →

Price honesty

analyst-estimate

One price on file: $3,000-$7,000 (analyst estimate).

see evidence →

Capability honesty

autonomous

1 reviewed claim: autonomous, verified.

see evidence →

Real-world use

commercial

Maturity: commercial. 6 verified deployments in the registry.

see evidence →

Safety record

incidents-on-file

2 incidents on record across 6 verified deployments.

see evidence →

What it claims to do

• Delivers packagesautonomous· verifiedevidence ↗

Price

• $3,000-$7,000analyst estimate · analyst-estimate pricing via theguardian.com (Depth sourcing 2026-07-08) ↗ · as of 2025-10-04

Real-world use

• Wichita State University operated by Starship Technologies2023-08-01
• UNC Charlotte operated by Starship Technologies2023-01-01
• University of Illinois Chicago operated by Starship Technologies2023-01-01
• Arizona State University (Tempe) operated by Starship Technologies2022-01-01
• Bowling Green State University operated by Starship Technologies2020-01-01
• University of Wisconsin-Madison operated by Starship Technologies2019-11-01

Safety record

• Starship Technologies delivery robot reportedly struck a parked car and left the scene, Helsinki (2025)2024-02-15
• Starship Technologies delivery robot reportedly struck and injured a pedestrian at Arizona State University (Sept 2023)2023-09-01

Privacy

Privacy practices disclosed by Starship Technologies for Starship Bot, with verification status.

• Bystander recordingverified

  Starship robots use 12 cameras and multiple sensors to navigate sidewalks autonomously, capturing images of pedestrians; the company states it does not need or wish to proactively identify individuals, uses fixed cameras showing only knee-level and below, and applies obfuscation techniques to minimize incidental recording of identifiable people.

  Source: https://www.starship.xyz/privacy/

• Cloud uploadverified

  Starship robots record images and video footage onto the robot's hard drive; selected sections of the recording may be uploaded to Starship servers for mapping, software testing, incident analysis, and safety improvement, with all data stored within the EU.

  Source: https://www.starship.xyz/privacy/

• Data retentionverified

  Recordings stored on robot hard drives are deleted after 30 days, usually sooner; most images uploaded to Starship servers are deleted after 90 days, though a small minority may be retained longer for drivable maps or further analysis.

  Source: https://www.starship.xyz/privacy/

• Third-party sharingverified

  Starship may share limited data collected from its robots with law enforcement officials in situations involving prevention or detection of a crime, subject to applicable law and Starship policy; the company uses PCI-DSS certified third-party partners for payment processing and Veriff for age verification including ID documents and face scans.

  Source: https://www.starship.xyz/privacy/

• Location trackingverified

  Starship collects user location to show nearby merchants and deliver to the specified address; the robots necessarily track their own GPS location for autonomous navigation and delivery operations.

  Source: https://www.starship.xyz/privacy/

• Data deletion controlverified

  Users have the right to request deletion of personal data by clicking a Request to delete my info link; the privacy policy provides GDPR-compliant data subject rights including access, rectification, erasure, restriction, and portability.

  Source: https://www.starship.xyz/privacy/

Specs

notes

• Founders / heritage: Founded 2014 by Skype co-founders Ahti Heinla (co-founder + CEO) and Janus Friis. HQ San Francisco; engineering hubs Tallinn (Estonia) and Helsinki (Finland).
• Business model: Captive operator-supervised delivery SERVICE: sells the autonomous delivery backbone to apps/retailers/campuses, not robots to third parties.
• Footprint (verified, Apr 2026): 8 countries: United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Czech Republic, United States. NOTE: Denmark is NOT among them (corrects a common prior); Czech Republic + Switzerland are the additions. Anchor segment = university campuses (65+ US); also grocery/retail, delivery apps, industrial sites.
• Financials (verified): $50M Series C closed Oct 15 2025, led by Plural (+ Karma.vc, Latitude, Coefficient Capital, SmartCap, Skaala); cumulative funding >$280M (Starship-direct). NO valuation disclosed by the company - cap-flag any aggregator valuation. '12,000+ robots by 2027' is a company projection, not a current figure.
• Cap-flag (autonomy framing): Starship markets 'Level 4 autonomy without active human supervision,' which reads as driverless; in practice operations are operator-supervised L4 with remote oversight/takeover available (~99% autonomous historically). Frame as operator-supervised, not no-humans. ~4 mph + exact lidar/radar specs are legacy specs, not re-cited in the Apr 2026 release.

specs

Starship Bot: six-wheeled insulated-cargo autonomous sidewalk delivery robot at low speed (~4 mph, legacy spec) with multi-sensor fusion (cameras + radar + ultrasonics + GPS; lidar on some configs). Operator-supervised Level 4 on sidewalks: runs autonomously with remote human oversight/takeover available. Operational scale (Apr 2026, Starship-direct): 10M+ cumulative autonomous deliveries, 3,000+ robots, 300+ service areas across 8 countries, 65+ US university campuses, 22M+ autonomous km, ~125,000 road crossings/day. Captive operator-supervised SERVICE model: Starship operates its own fleet and integrates with delivery apps (Uber Eats, Just Eat, Bolt, Foodora, Grubhub, Wolt) plus grocers/retailers; does NOT sell robots to third parties.

battery

1260 Wh

runtime

12 h

max_speed

6 km/h

weight_kg

35

formFactor

sidewalk (six-wheeled operator-supervised L4 sidewalk delivery robot; captive delivery-service model)

payload_kg

10

What's under the hood

No brain on file for Starship Bot.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Starship Bot actually available for purchase?

Not available to consumers. In internal use by Starship Technologies.Source: Starship Technologies — Company website

What does the Starship Bot cost?

Starship Bot costs $3,000-$7,000 one-time (analyst estimate).Source: analyst-estimate pricing via theguardian.com (Depth sourcing 2026-07-08)

Does the Starship Bot really delivers packages?

Yes, verified. Starship Bot performs this autonomously.Sources: Starship Technologies -- official site; Starship autonomous delivery robots operate commercially on university campuses and in residential neighborhoods in the US, UK, and Estonia; robots navigate sidewalks autonomously at up to 4 mph to deliver food and groceries; over 7 million deliveries completed as of 2024, Starship Technologies' autonomous delivery robots hit milestone -- TechCrunch; documents Starship commercial operations on 50+ US and European campuses with millions of paid autonomous deliveries completed; robots operate with 99%+ autonomy rate on well-mapped routes

Where is the Starship Bot being used?

Starship Bot is in use at: Wichita State University operated by Starship Technologies (2023-08-01), UNC Charlotte operated by Starship Technologies (2023-01-01), University of Illinois Chicago operated by Starship Technologies (2023-01-01), Arizona State University (Tempe) operated by Starship Technologies (2022-01-01), and Bowling Green State University operated by Starship Technologies (2020-01-01), plus 1 more.Source: Starship launches robot delivery at Wichita State University

Is the Starship Bot safe?

Incidents on record: 2 (1 property_damage, 1 injury). See Starship Technologies delivery robot reportedly struck a parked car and left the scene, Helsinki (2025).Source: Starship Technologies delivery robot reportedly struck a parked car and left the scene, Helsinki (2025)

How does the Starship Bot handle privacy?

Starship Technologies has disclosed 6 privacy practices for Starship Bot: bystander recording (Starship robots use 12 cameras and multiple sensors to navigate sidewalks autonomously, capturing images of pedestrians; the company stat..), cloud upload (Starship robots record images and video footage onto the robot's hard drive; selected sections of the recording may be uploaded to Starsh..), data retention (Recordings stored on robot hard drives are deleted after 30 days, usually sooner; most images uploaded to Starship servers are deleted af..), third-party sharing (Starship may share limited data collected from its robots with law enforcement officials in situations involving prevention or detection..), location tracking (Starship collects user location to show nearby merchants and deliver to the specified address; the robots necessarily track their own GPS..), and data deletion control (Users have the right to request deletion of personal data by clicking a Request to delete my info link; the privacy policy provides GDPR-..).Source: https://www.starship.xyz/privacy/

Who makes the Starship Bot?

Starship Bot is made by Starship Technologies, based in San Francisco, CA.Source: Starship Technologies — Company website

Video

Compare side by side

• Starship Bot vs Cartken Courierby Cartken · sidewalk
• Starship Bot vs Coco Botby Coco Robotics · sidewalk

Sources

1. Starship passes 10 million autonomous deliveries; 3,000+ robots, 300+ locations, 8 countries, 65+ US campuses (Apr 28 2026) · https://www.starship.xyz/press/autonomous-delivery-moves-into-the-mainstream-as-starship-technologies-passes-10-million-deliveries/ ↗
2. Starship raises $50M Series C, led by Plural; >$280M cumulative; 2,700+ robots (Oct 15 2025) · https://www.starship.xyz/press/starship-technologies-raises-50m-series-c/ ↗
3. Skype co-founders (Ahti Heinla + Janus Friis) launch Starship (founders + Skype heritage) · https://www.starship.xyz/press/skype-co-founders-launch-a-company-with-a-mission-to-make-local-delivery-free/ ↗
4. Starship Technologies Raises $50M Series C to Scale Autonomous Delivery (wire mirror) · https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251015387447/en/Starship-Technologies-Raises-$50M-Series-C-to-Scale-Autonomous-Delivery-Across-U.S.-Cities ↗
5. Starship Technologies obtains Series C funding (independent corroboration) · https://www.therobotreport.com/starship-technologies-obtains-series-c-funding-for-autonomous-deliveries/ ↗
6. Starship about: last-mile delivery service; SF HQ, Tallinn + Helsinki engineering; captive fleet · https://www.starship.xyz/about/ ↗
7. Starship Robot Specifications · https://starshipdeliveries.com/industry/ ↗
8. Starship Technologies — Company website · https://www.starship.xyz ↗
9. Wikipedia — Starship Technologies · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Technologies ↗
10. Starship Technologies and Uber Eats launch autonomous delivery partnership (Nov 20, 2025) · https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251120298420/en/Starship-Technologies-and-Uber-Eats-Launch-Autonomous-Delivery-Partnership ↗
11. Starship Technologies and Uber Eats launch autonomous delivery partnership (Nov 2025) · https://www.starship.xyz/press/starship-technologies-and-uber-eats-launch-autonomous-delivery-partnership/ ↗
12. Starship Technologies raises $50M as robot delivery race revs up (Oct 2025) · https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/technology/starship-technologies-raises-50m-robot-delivery-race-revs ↗
13. Uber Eats and Starship to launch autonomous sidewalk robot delivery in December (Nov 2025) · https://www.pymnts.com/partnerships/2025/uber-eats-and-starship-to-launch-autonomous-sidewalk-robot-delivery-in-december/ ↗
14. Grubhub and Starship Technologies partner to bring robot delivery to college campuses (Oct 2022) · https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/grubhub-and-starship-technologies-partner-to-bring-robot-delivery-services-to-college-campuses-301645087.html ↗
15. Grubhub and Starship Technologies partner on campus robot delivery (Oct 2022) · https://about.grubhub.com/news/grubhub-and-starship-technologies-partner-to-bring-robot-delivery-services-to-college-campuses/ ↗
16. Starship Technologies surpasses 8 million autonomous deliveries (Apr 2025) · https://www.roboticstomorrow.com/story/2025/04/starship-technologies-surpasses-8-million-deliveries/24613/ ↗
17. Starship Technologies -- official site; Starship autonomous delivery robots operate commercially on university campuses and in residential neighborhoods in the US, UK, and Estonia; robots navigate sidewalks autonomously at up to 4 mph to deliver food and groceries; over 7 million deliveries completed as of 2024 · https://www.starship.xyz/ ↗
18. Starship Technologies' autonomous delivery robots hit milestone -- TechCrunch; documents Starship commercial operations on 50+ US and European campuses with millions of paid autonomous deliveries completed; robots operate with 99%+ autonomy rate on well-mapped routes · https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/09/starship-technologies-autonomous-delivery-robots-10-million-deliveries/ ↗ · 2022-09-09
19. Starship Technologies official YouTube (@StarshipRobots), embedded under standard YouTube embed terms. oEmbed author_url verified 2026-06-04. · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_zRwq9c8LY ↗ · 2026-06-04
20. analyst-estimate pricing via theguardian.com (Depth sourcing 2026-07-08) · https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/oct/04/delivery-robots-skype-co-founder-ahti-heinla-starship ↗ · 2025-10-04
21. Starship launches robot delivery at Wichita State University · https://www.starship.xyz/press/starship-technologies-launches-robot-delivery-service-at-wichita-state-university/ ↗ · 2024-11-12
22. Robotic food delivery starts at Wichita State (university official; $2.49) · https://www.wichita.edu/about/wsunews/news/2023/08-aug/food_delivery_7.php ↗
23. Wichita State brings food-delivery robots to campus · https://www.ksn.com/news/local/wichita-state-brings-food-delivery-robots-to-campus/ ↗
24. Robotic food delivery starts at Wichita State · https://www.kwch.com/2023/08/14/robotic-food-delivery-starts-wichita-state/ ↗
25. Food-delivery robots introduced at Wichita State · https://thesunflower.com/73118/news/food-delivery-robots-introduced-able-to-deliver-campus-eats/ ↗
26. Starship launches robot delivery at UNC Charlotte (30-robot fleet, Mar 2023) · https://www.starship.xyz/press/starship-technologies-launches-robot-delivery-service-at-the-university-of-north-carolina-at-charlotte/ ↗
27. Meet the food-delivery robots (UNC Charlotte official) · https://inside.charlotte.edu/news-features/2023-03-08/meet-food-delivery-robots/ ↗
28. Robots delivering meals on UNC Charlotte campus · https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2023/05/09/robots-making-moves-on-unc-charlotte-campus- ↗
29. How to use the Starship food-delivery robots on campus · https://www.ninertimes.com/arts_and_culture/how-to-use-the-starship-food-delivery-robots-on-campus/article_ae4cccae-f414-11ed-ade5-23bb287a05d6.html ↗
30. Starship robot delivery live at UNC Charlotte · https://retailtechinnovationhub.com/home/2023/3/10/starship-technologies-robot-delivery-service-goes-live-at-the-university-of-north-carolina-at-charlotte ↗
31. Starship launches delivery at multiple campuses incl. UIC (25 robots, fall 2021) · https://www.starship.xyz/press/starship-robots-launch-delivery-service-at-multiple-new-college-campuses-this-fall-semester/ ↗
32. Chicago City Council committee approves expanded two-year UIC robot-delivery pilot · https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2022/9/15/23355598/robot-food-delivery-pilot-program-uic-university-illinois-chicago-city-council-committee-starship ↗
33. UIC robot food delivery feature (20 robots, ~100 deliveries/week) · https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/10/20/23390842/robot-food-delivery-uic-university-illinois-chicago-starship-doordash-grubhub-ubereats ↗
34. Starship brings food-delivery robots to four more campuses incl. UIC · https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/10/starship-technologies-is-bringing-food-delivery-robots-to-four-more-us-college-campuses/ ↗
35. Starship campus list incl. Arizona State University · https://www.ottomate.news/p/starship-robot-delivery-now-available ↗ · 2021-11-12
36. AI Incident Database — Starship robot at ASU (incident context confirms campus operation) · https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/813/ ↗ · 2024-09-19
37. Starship launches robot delivery at Arizona State University · https://www.starship.xyz/press/starship-technologies-launches-robot-delivery-service-at-arizona-state-university-and-james-madison-university/ ↗
38. Starship + Aramark launch contactless robot food delivery at ASU (40-robot fleet) · https://news.asu.edu/20200904-asu-news-starship-aramark-launch-contactless-robot-food-delivery ↗
39. Delivery robots roll out on ASU Tempe campus · https://www.abc15.com/news/business/san-francisco-tech-firm-rolls-out-delivery-robots-on-asu-tempe-campus ↗
40. Robots bring contactless food delivery to ASU campus · https://www.statepress.com/article/2020/09/spcommunity-starship-robot-partnership-brings-contactless-delivery ↗
41. Starship hits one million autonomous deliveries milestone (ASU among drivers) · https://www.starship.xyz/press/starship-technologies-raises-an-additional-17m-in-funding-as-it-hits-one-million-autonomous-deliveries-milestone/ ↗
42. Starship at BGSU + city of Bowling Green expansion · https://www.foodservicedirector.com/colleges-universities/starship-technologies-delivery-robots-bring-meals-to-bowling-green-state-university-campus-and-larger-community ↗
43. BGSU + Starship launch robot delivery (30 robots, Chartwells, first in Ohio, Mar 2020) · https://www.starship.xyz/press/bowling-green-state-university-and-starship-technologies-launch-robot-delivery-service/ ↗
44. First university in Ohio to offer autonomous delivery (BGSU official) · https://www.bgsu.edu/news/2020/03/first-university-in-ohio-to-offer-autonomous-delivery.html ↗
45. BGSU rolls out Starship food-delivery robots · https://www.sent-trib.com/2022/03/16/bgsu-rolls-out-robots-starship-food-delivery-service-is-first-in-ohio/ ↗
46. BGSU official says Starships are here to stay (longevity) · https://bgfalconmedia.com/154245/news/despite-online-rumors-university-says-starships-are-here-to-stay/ ↗
47. Starship at UW-Madison (biggest US campus client) · https://www.starship.xyz/press/university-of-wisconsin-madisons-university-housing-launches-new-starship-robot-delivery-service/ ↗ · 2024-11-13
48. 35 robots delivering daily at UW-Madison · https://www.channel3000.com/news/education/food-delivery-robots-on-uw-madison-campus-busier-than-ever/article_a5182e1a-7fa2-51fa-bd73-89582d1aab3e.html ↗ · 2024-08-13
49. Starship to deploy 30 delivery robots on UW-Madison campus · https://www.freightwaves.com/news/starship-to-deploy-30-delivery-robots-on-uw-madison-campus ↗
50. UW-Madison rolls out food-delivery robots · https://www.highereddive.com/news/uw-madison-the-latest-campus-to-roll-out-food-delivery-robots/566661/ ↗
51. UW-Madison launching autonomous delivery robot service · https://www.auvsi.org/industry-news/university-wisconsin-madison-launching-autonomous-delivery-robot-service ↗
52. UW welcomes new robot delivery service to campus · https://captimes.com/news/local/education/university/uw-welcomes-new-robot-overlords-err-delivery-service-to-campus/article_78f98105-7d0a-5465-a788-69b0fef071f2.html ↗
53. https://www.starship.xyz/privacy/ ↗