{"id":"308e996f-c675-4088-a0c5-fee7b9f9c6b9","companyId":"1dc678d5-852c-4568-9ace-5814efb7cc4b","modelName":"Cartken Courier","slug":"cartken-courier","description":"Cartken (Oakland, California; founded 2019 by ex-Google engineers from the Bookbot project, led by CEO Christian Bersch; about $22.5 million raised from investors including Magna International, Shell Ventures, and Mitsubishi Electric) makes six-wheeled autonomous sidewalk delivery robots. Its Cartken Courier is the original sidewalk bot carrying about 44 pounds at 3 to 6 miles per hour, joined by the larger industrial Cartken Hauler with a 660-pound payload and an indoor Cartken Runner. It ran campus and food sidewalk delivery at scale, including a 41-robot fleet at the University of Arizona via Grubhub and Uber Eats service in Miami and Tokyo, but in July 2025 it pivoted its growth focus from last-mile food delivery to industrial robotics, with food delivery continuing but no longer expanding. The registry records it at commercial maturity with a finding that corrects the sector's captive-service premise: Cartken is not a classic captive operator, its legacy campus business was robots-as-a-service, and its forward business is industrial robot sales, anchored by a multi-million-dollar order from Melco, a Mitsubishi Electric Group company, for nearly 100 Cartken Hauler robots placed on June 25, 2025, an outright sale rather than a service, following a first industrial customer in Germany's ZF Lifetec in 2023. The frequently cited figure of more than 50,000 orders at the University of Arizona is company and BusinessWire PR, with Grubhub corroborating the program but not the count, and the current fleet size, total lifetime deliveries, whether the roughly 100 Haulers have actually been deployed rather than merely ordered, and whether the Miami service is still live in 2026 are not verified.","formFactor":"sidewalk","maturityStage":"commercial","lifecycleState":"active","supersededByModelId":null,"specs":{"notes":[{"label":"Verified","value":"Cartken (Oakland CA; founded 2019 by ex-Google Bookbot engineers) ran campus/food sidewalk delivery (U. Arizona 41-robot fleet via Grubhub; Uber Eats Miami + Tokyo; Rakuten Japan). In July 2025 it PIVOTED its growth focus from last-mile food delivery to INDUSTRIAL robotics; food delivery continues but is no longer expanding. maturity=commercial."},{"label":"Captive-vs-sale (corrects sector premise)","value":"NOT a classic captive-service operator. Legacy campus/food business was RaaS; the forward business is industrial robot SALES: Melco (a Mitsubishi Electric Group co.) ordered nearly 100 Cartken Hauler robots (Jun 25 2025, multi-million-dollar, outright sale) for Japanese factories/warehouses. First industrial customer ZF Lifetec (Germany, 2023)."},{"label":"Regulatory / model","value":"Sidewalk PDD-class for the Courier (campus + public sidewalks under state PDD laws). The Model reflects the current sidewalk+industrial direction; legacy food-delivery deployments retain their historical commercial state."},{"label":"Claimed but NOT verified (cap-flag)","value":"The '>50,000 orders at U. Arizona 22-23' figure is company/BusinessWire PR (Grubhub corroborates the program, not the count); exact current fleet size + total lifetime deliveries; whether the ~100 Haulers are DEPLOYED (it is an ORDER with deployment 'within this fiscal year'); whether Uber Eats Miami is still live in 2026."}],"specs":"Cartken Courier (Model C): six-wheeled sidewalk delivery bot, ~44 lb / ~1.5 cu ft payload, 3-6 mph. Cartken Hauler: larger industrial model (2025), 660 lb / 300 kg payload. Cartken Runner: indoor. Founded 2019 (ex-Google 'Bookbot' engineers; CEO Christian Bersch); ~$22.5M raised (468 Capital, Magna International, Shell Ventures, Mitsubishi Electric).","formFactor":"sidewalk (six-wheeled autonomous sidewalk delivery robot; + larger industrial variant)"},"manufacturerSerial":null,"reviewStatus":"reviewed","sources":[{"url":"https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/20/why-cartken-pivoted-its-focus-from-last-mile-delivery-to-industrial-robots/","title":"Why Cartken pivoted from last-mile delivery to industrial robots (Jul 2025; ex-Google founders)","sourceName":"TechCrunch"},{"url":"https://www.cartken.com/press-release/a-mitsubishi-electric-group-company-expands-partnership-with-cartken-and-orders-nearly-100-autonomous-cartken-hauler-robots-for-industrial-applications","title":"Melco (Mitsubishi Electric Group) orders ~100 Cartken Hauler robots (Jun 25 2025; sale)","sourceName":"Cartken (official)"},{"url":"https://onsite.grubhub.com/blog/how-the-university-of-arizona-uses-grubhub-and-cartken-for-robot-delivery/","title":"U. Arizona uses Grubhub + Cartken for robot delivery (41-robot campus fleet)","sourceName":"Grubhub"},{"url":"https://www.cartken.com/press-release/cartken-announces-22-5m-in-aggregate-funding-to-advance-ai-based-technology-stack-enabling-autonomous-delivery-robots","title":"Cartken ~$22.5M aggregate funding (Magna, Shell Ventures, Mitsubishi Electric)","sourceName":"Cartken (official)"}],"aliases":["Cartken Courier","Cartken Model C","Cartken Hauler"],"collisionRisk":"low","reviewNote":null,"manufacturerTermForTeleop":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-03T21:25:15.914Z","updatedAt":"2026-06-03T21:25:15.914Z","jsonLd":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Product","@id":"https://registry.deploy.report/models/cartken-courier","url":"https://registry.deploy.report/models/cartken-courier","name":"Cartken Courier","alternateName":["Cartken Courier","Cartken Model C","Cartken Hauler"],"description":"Cartken (Oakland, California; founded 2019 by ex-Google engineers from the Bookbot project, led by CEO Christian Bersch; about $22.5 million raised from investors including Magna International, Shell Ventures, and Mitsubishi Electric) makes six-wheeled autonomous sidewalk delivery robots. Its Cartken Courier is the original sidewalk bot carrying about 44 pounds at 3 to 6 miles per hour, joined by the larger industrial Cartken Hauler with a 660-pound payload and an indoor Cartken Runner. It ran campus and food sidewalk delivery at scale, including a 41-robot fleet at the University of Arizona via Grubhub and Uber Eats service in Miami and Tokyo, but in July 2025 it pivoted its growth focus from last-mile food delivery to industrial robotics, with food delivery continuing but no longer expanding. The registry records it at commercial maturity with a finding that corrects the sector's captive-service premise: Cartken is not a classic captive operator, its legacy campus business was robots-as-a-service, and its forward business is industrial robot sales, anchored by a multi-million-dollar order from Melco, a Mitsubishi Electric Group company, for nearly 100 Cartken Hauler robots placed on June 25, 2025, an outright sale rather than a service, following a first industrial customer in Germany's ZF Lifetec in 2023. The frequently cited figure of more than 50,000 orders at the University of Arizona is company and BusinessWire PR, with Grubhub corroborating the program but not the count, and the current fleet size, total lifetime deliveries, whether the roughly 100 Haulers have actually been deployed rather than merely ordered, and whether the Miami service is still live in 2026 are not verified.","identifier":"308e996f-c675-4088-a0c5-fee7b9f9c6b9","category":"sidewalk","publisher":{"@id":"https://deploy.report/#organization"}}}