Australia’s First Delivery Robots Arrive on the Gold Coast

Australia’s First Delivery Robots Arrive on the Gold Coast

Dinner is about to get a lot more futuristic on the Gold Coast.

Today, Serve Robotics launched Australia’s first footpath robot delivery service, in partnership with DoorDash, starting in the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct.

Customers ordering from Gnocchi Gnocchi in Southport, the pilot’s first participating restaurant, can now choose to have their meal delivered by a Serve robot through DoorDash. More local restaurants will join in the coming weeks, with expansion shaped by what we hear from the community.

The Gold Coast is Serve’s first market outside the United States, where our robots have already completed deliveries for thousands of restaurants in cities like Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas, Chicago and Atlanta.

“It has the walkable neighbourhoods this technology is built for and a city that has shown it welcomes innovation,” said Ali Kashani, CEO and Co-founder of Serve Robotics. The precinct is one of the country’s leading innovation districts, with more than 3,000 residents and 20,000 students nearby.

Local leaders agree. Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate called Serve’s decision a “strong vote of confidence” in the city’s innovation ecosystem.

For the first time ever, Serve has partnered with a university to host its operations depot. At the end of each shift, the robots will return to Serve’s operations depot at Griffith University. The partnership will explore internships and early-career opportunities for Griffith students and graduates in robotics, autonomy operations and field engineering.

What Serve and its partners learn during the pilot will shape how the service grows, including any changes to delivery zones. If you’re in the precinct, keep an eye on the footpath, and maybe on your DoorDash checkout screen too.