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Robot model

Starship Bot

Starship Bot is the six-wheeled autonomous sidewalk delivery robot of Starship Technologies, founded in 2014 by Skype co-founders Ahti Heinla, who is also…

Form factor
sidewalk
Maturity
commercial
Lifecycle
active
Deployments
41

The verified answer

As of Aug 2026, DEPLOY verifies Starship Bot, a sidewalk by Starship Technologies (commercial): 41 verified deployments on record. 7 sources back the record.

Appears inLogistics robots

Overview

Starship Bot is the six-wheeled autonomous sidewalk delivery robot of Starship Technologies, founded in 2014 by Skype co-founders Ahti Heinla, who is also chief executive, and Janus Friis, with headquarters in San Francisco and engineering hubs in Tallinn, Estonia and Helsinki, Finland. The robot carries an insulated cargo compartment and navigates sidewalks at low speed using multi-sensor fusion of cameras, radar, ultrasonics, and GPS, operating as an operator-supervised Level 4 system: it drives autonomously with remote human oversight and takeover available rather than being driverless, a distinction the registry preserves against Starship's own marketing of Level 4 autonomy without active human supervision.

Starship runs a captive operator-supervised service model, operating its own fleet and selling the delivery backbone to apps, retailers, and campuses rather than selling robots to third parties, integrating with platforms such as Uber Eats, Just Eat, Bolt, Foodora, Grubhub, and Wolt. As of Starship's own April 2026 disclosure it had passed ten million cumulative autonomous deliveries with more than three thousand robots across more than three hundred service areas in eight countries: the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, the Czech Republic, and the United States, with more than sixty-five US university campuses as its anchor segment; Denmark, sometimes listed in priors, is not among them.

It remains privately held, having closed a fifty-million-dollar Series C led by Plural in October 2025 that brought cumulative funding above two hundred eighty million dollars, with no valuation disclosed by the company.

Verified vs. claimed

Maturity stage
commercial(Commercially deployed with revenue-generating operations.)
Sources on file
View all sources →

Key facts

Operating speed

~4 mph (legacy spec)

Autonomy level

Operator-supervised Level 4 with remote human oversight/takeover available

Sensor suite

Cameras, radar, ultrasonics, GPS; lidar on some configs

Cumulative deliveries

10M+ cumulative autonomous deliveries (Apr 2026)

Fleet size

3,000+ robots

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

Form Factor

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

Payload kg

10

Data & sources

Press releases

5

News coverage

1

Web sources

1

7 sources backing this record.View all →

Availability and pricing

Availability
Not sold (internal use)
Price
$3K to $7K (analyst estimate)as of 2025-10-04
Units in field
2000 claimedvendor claim, unverified
Sales model
Not for sale
Lead time
Not disclosed

Autonomy: verified vs claimed

What it actually does
Supervised (human oversight)

Accountability: Starship Technologies has a Claim Integrity of 100% (4 of 4 public claims verified). See the industry ledger.

Pricing

One-time purchase

$3,000 - $7,000 USDanalyst estimateas of 2025-10-04

Source: analyst-estimate pricing via theguardian.com (Depth sourcing 2026-07-08)

Price status: actual-sale-price = real published price at time of sale; manufacturer-target = vendor target, not yet realized; analyst-estimate = third-party projection, not a vendor figure; not-announced = no price on record.

Prices verified as of Oct 4, 2025

Deployments (41)

See all 41 deployments →

Free to use on your site, with a link back to DEPLOY.

Recent activity

Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.

  • Incident recordedJul 26, 2026

    Autonomous delivery robot crashed into Chicago CTA bus shelter

  • Incident recordedJul 25, 2026

    Woman sues Starship after delivery robot knocked her down, causing spinal fracture

  • Incident recordedJul 25, 2026

    Starship delivery robot strikes ASU employee on campus, lawsuit filed

  • Incident recordedJul 14, 2026

    Trudy Perez sues Starship Technologies over 2023 ASU delivery robot collision that caused...

  • Verified media addedVerifiedJun 11, 2026

    Safe and Secure: Starship Autonomous Delivery Robots

Full change history →

Manufacturer-attributed media (2)

Manufacturer-supplied media at the model level. Not tied to an independently verified named-site deployment. Verification posture is product-showcase from the maker, distinct from the deployment-verified evidence in the section above.

PRIMARY SOURCE
Courtesy of Starship Technologies

Starship's footage of its sidewalk delivery robots running a campus delivery service. The robots operate with supervised autonomy (remote-operator oversight) in geofenced areas.

PRIMARY SOURCE
Courtesy of Starship Technologies

Official Starship Technologies video celebrating the milestone of one million autonomous deliveries. The millionth delivery took place at Bowling Green, Ohio.

Safety record

9 incidents on record (5 serious, 2 moderate, 2 minor). Most recent: Jul 2026.

serious
5
moderate
2
minor
2
injury
6
property damage
2
other
1

Most recent: Jul 2026

Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Incidents affecting Starship Bot (9)

Includes incidents linked directly to this model or to deployments of it. Retracted incidents are excluded from this view but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Sources (7)

  1. https://www.starship.xyz/press/autonomous-delivery-moves-into-the-mainstream-as-starship-technologies-passes-10-million-deliveries/
  2. https://www.starship.xyz/press/starship-technologies-raises-50m-series-c/
  3. https://www.starship.xyz/press/skype-co-founders-launch-a-company-with-a-mission-to-make-local-delivery-free/
  4. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251015387447/en/Starship-Technologies-Raises-$50M-Series-C-to-Scale-Autonomous-Delivery-Across-U.S.-Cities
  5. https://www.therobotreport.com/starship-technologies-obtains-series-c-funding-for-autonomous-deliveries/
  6. https://www.starship.xyz/about/
  7. https://starshipdeliveries.com/industry/

Compare Starship Bot

Common questions

What is Starship Bot?
Starship Bot is the six-wheeled autonomous sidewalk delivery robot of Starship Technologies, founded in 2014 by Skype co-founders Ahti Heinla, who is also chief executive, and Janus Friis, with headquarters in San Francisco and engineering hubs in Tallinn, Estonia and Helsinki, Finland. The robot carries an insulated cargo compartment and navigates sidewalks at low speed using multi-sensor fusion of cameras, radar, ultrasonics, and GPS, operating as an operator-supervised Level 4 system: it drives autonomously with remote human oversight and takeover available rather than being driverless, a distinction the registry preserves against Starship's own marketing of Level 4 autonomy without active human supervision. Starship runs a captive operator-supervised service model, operating its own fleet and selling the delivery backbone to apps, retailers, and campuses rather than selling robots to third parties, integrating with platforms such as Uber Eats, Just Eat, Bolt, Foodora, Grubhub, and Wolt. As of Starship's own April 2026 disclosure it had passed ten million cumulative autonomous deliveries with more than three thousand robots across more than three hundred service areas in eight countries: the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, the Czech Republic, and the United States, with more than sixty-five US university campuses as its anchor segment; Denmark, sometimes listed in priors, is not among them. It remains privately held, having closed a fifty-million-dollar Series C led by Plural in October 2025 that brought cumulative funding above two hundred eighty million dollars, with no valuation disclosed by the company.
How much does Starship Bot cost?
Starship Bot is listed at $3,000 to $7,000 on the DEPLOY registry. This is an analyst estimate, not an official price.
Is Starship Bot actually deployed in the real world?
Yes. Starship Bot is independently verified in real-world operation on the DEPLOY registry, confirmed at named deployment sites with primary sources: not a concept, render, or demo-only.
Is Starship Bot autonomous or teleoperated?
Yes. DEPLOY independently verifies Starship Bot performing Delivers packages autonomously, with no human in the loop.
What are the specs of Starship Bot?
Starship Bot's recorded specifications on the DEPLOY registry: Battery: 1260 Wh; Runtime: 12 h; Max speed: 6 km/h; Weight: 35 kg; Payload: 10 kg. See the Specs section for the full sourced set.
Who makes Starship Bot?
Starship Bot is made by Starship Technologies, based in San Francisco, CA, founded in 2014.
Where is Starship Bot deployed?
41 verified deployments of Starship Bot are on the DEPLOY registry, including at Hamburg, Lexington, Kentucky, USA, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Can you buy Starship Bot?
Starship Bot is in commercial deployment and is sold to operators; contact the manufacturer to buy, and see the pricing section for any recorded price.
What are alternatives to Starship Bot?
On the DEPLOY registry, comparable sidewalk robots to Starship Bot include Kiwibot 4.0, Avride delivery robot, Serve Gen 3, Coco Bot.
How does Starship Bot compare to Kiwibot 4.0?
Starship Bot and Kiwibot 4.0 (Kiwibot · 16 deployments) are both sidewalk robots on the DEPLOY registry. Starship Bot has 41 verified deployments on record. Compare both records for specs, safety, deployments, and verified-vs-claimed autonomy.
Is Starship Bot a top sidewalk?
On DEPLOY's intelligence score, which blends verified deployments, safety, adoption, media, and IP signals, Starship Bot ranks in roughly the top under 1% of sidewalk models tracked by the registry.
What is Starship Bot's maturity stage?
Starship Bot is at the commercial stage on the DEPLOY maturity ladder (research, prototype, pilot, commercial, production). Commercial stage means production-grade deployments are operating at named customer sites.
Is Starship Bot safe?
Starship Bot has 9 active incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. 9 incidents on record (5 serious, 2 moderate, 2 minor). Most recent: Jul 2026. Retracted incidents are excluded from this count.
How much does a Starship delivery robot cost per delivery?
Starship charges approximately $1.99 per delivery as a consumer-facing fee. The company states autonomous delivery already costs $3-4 less than traditional rider delivery, with a long-term target of approximately $1 per drop. Starship robots are 99% autonomous and operate at SAE Level 4. Over 10 million deliveries have been completed.
Methodology: Verified · 7 sources (5 primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-22

Verification posture

Verified

High confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-07-22

Maturity + lifecycle

Maturity stage: commercial

Lifecycle: active

Architectural position

Cohort: sidewalk

Sources by quality tier

5
primary-company-ir
Company IR disclosure
1
unclassified
Unclassified source
1
secondary-trade-publication
Trade publication

The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.

Methodology surface for Starship Bot.

Recent coverage

Starship Bot in third-party press