A fleet of squat, WALL-E-style robots has started rolling through Logan Circle this month, ferrying Thai food, pizza, groceries and ice cream to residents who unlock the machines with their phones. The robots, made by Coco Robotics, travel at up to 5 mph, carry insulated compartments to keep hot food hot and cold food cold, and return to their stationed restaurant once a delivery is complete.
The Logan Circle rollout is part of a broader authorization process: on July 16, 2026, the District Department of Transportation announced it had issued Personal Delivery Device permits to both Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics, clearing them to begin sidewalk food delivery operations in Washington, D.C., according to the District Department of Transportation. As WTOP reports, Coco already delivers orders from Beau Thai near Logan Circle, with plans to expand across the District in the near future.
Under DDOT's permit terms, newly authorized operators like Coco are restricted for their first three months to designated zones of up to one square mile with a maximum fleet size of 25 devices, the agency says. Operators can apply to expand their service zones and fleet size after that initial period if they meet safety standards. Per the station's reporting, Coco's robots currently operate within a roughly two-mile delivery zone near Logan Circle and target delivery within 30 minutes of an order being placed.
How the Robots Navigate D.C. Sidewalks
Before entering a neighborhood, Coco maps out the sidewalks in advance, and its robots continue updating those maps in real time using onboard sensors as they travel, per the same account. The machines maneuver around uneven surfaces, potholes and curbs, and they can reroute themselves around temporary sidewalk obstructions they encounter along the way.
Safety features are built into how the robots interact with people on foot. The bots reduce their top speed when a pedestrian enters their safety buffer and come to a full stop if someone gets too close, the outlet notes. Vandalism has been uncommon so far, according to the report.
Coco has also shared its mapping data with BlindSquare, an app that provides auditory alerts to blind and visually impaired users, a step aimed at helping those pedestrians navigate around the robots. The company describes the devices as a way to supplement, rather than replace, human delivery workers, supporting what it calls more sustainable, affordable, cost-effective and efficient delivery.
Joining an Already Crowded Sidewalk
With the July permit approvals, Coco and Serve joined Robot.com — formerly known as Kiwibot, which had previously operated in D.C. under that earlier brand — as the only companies legally permitted to run sidewalk delivery devices in the District, according to DDOT. That puts three competing robot operators navigating the same stretch of Logan Circle sidewalks at once.
D.C. lawmakers are simultaneously revisiting the rules governing how big these machines can get. The D.C. Council advanced Bill B26-0245, the Personal Delivery Device Weight Limit Amendment Act of 2025, in July 2026, aiming to raise the legal weight cap for sidewalk delivery robots to 275 pounds excluding cargo, according to BillTrack50. The measure, introduced by Councilmember Charles Allen, would update rules D.C. first put in place in 2018.
A Well-Funded National Expansion
Coco's arrival in Logan Circle follows a rapid buildout elsewhere. The company had already completed more than 500,000 zero-emission deliveries across major U.S. markets including Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Austin, Dallas, Houston and New York, as well as Helsinki, Finland, before expanding into Washington, per PR Newswire. In January 2026, Coco launched a city-supported pilot in Jersey City's The Heights neighborhood, giving it a foothold in walkable Mid-Atlantic corridors ahead of the D.C. launch.
The company's growth has been backed by serious capital. Coco raised $80 million in strategic funding in June 2025 in a round backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and his brother Max Altman, pushing its total capital raised past $120 million, according to CTech. That same year, Coco partnered with OpenAI to integrate artificial intelligence models into its robots, helping them process real-time environmental data and navigate complex sidewalk obstacles alongside human remote oversight.
Coco has also deepened ties with major delivery apps. In April 2025, DoorDash expanded its partnership with the company to offer sidewalk robot deliveries across Los Angeles and Chicago, integrating Coco across 600 merchants and committing to complete more than 100,000 deliveries in LA alone during an initial pilot phase, according to Restaurant Dive.
The Bigger Picture on Sidewalks
D.C.'s experiment lands amid a fast-growing industry: a 2024 market projection cited by the Pacific Research Institute estimated the global delivery robot market would grow from $400 million in 2023 to $1.8 billion by 2028, with supporters citing reduced road congestion and critics raising sidewalk safety concerns. That tension has already played out elsewhere — Hoodline reported that a Chicago alderman halted robot expansion after neighborhood pushback, and similar sidewalk-safety debates have surrounded delivery robots in Philadelphia.
For now, Logan Circle residents are the ones testing out the technology firsthand, watching small boxy machines glide past on their way to deliver Thai food and ice cream. Whether Coco's fleet grows beyond its current one-square-mile, 25-robot limit will depend on how the first three months go — and on how D.C.'s Council ultimately decides to regulate the size and weight of the machines sharing the sidewalk with pedestrians.
