Starship completes 1 million autonomous deliveries | Author: Ahti Heinla | Starship Technology | January 2021 | Medium

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Starship completed 1 million autonomous deliveries

Today, I am proud to announce that since the establishment of the company in 2014, we have achieved 1 million automated deliveries. We believe that no other company in the world has completed so many automated deliveries-including self-driving taxis. We also raised an additional $17 million and added services to two new campuses in the United States-UCLA and Bridgewater State University (Massachusetts). To date, this new investment brings Starship’s total funding to $102 million.

We are not sure where the 1 millionth delivery will take place, because there are about 15 to 20 service areas open around the world, and robots deliver every minute. Finally, it happened in Bowling Green, Ohio. A student named Annika Keeton was a freshman studying pre-health biology at BGSU. Annika is now part of Starship’s history!

Annika Keeton, the recipient of our one-millionth delivery in Bowling Green, Ohio

Six years ago, we would not believe that we would achieve 1 million deliveries in January 2021-we hope to do so soon! But it turns out that it is very difficult for delivery robots to operate in a highly autonomous manner 24/7 in multiple countries/regions, delivering thousands of deliveries a day, and delivering millions of miles a year. Fortunately, we have a very talented team at Starship, and I thank them for making this milestone possible. It may take us 6 years to reach the delivery volume of the first million, but we expect that the next million will only take a few months!

Today, we also launched UCLA, which is considered one of the top public schools in the United States. We provide services from restaurants such as Blaze Pizza, Bruin Buzz, Lu Valle and Southern Lights. Bridgewater State University (Massachusetts) now also provides food delivery services from campus restaurants such as Starbucks and Bears Den.

One of the first students from UCLA to receive Starship express delivery

This additional funding came at a time when there was growing interest in the autonomous delivery industry. Facts have proven that contactless delivery is one of the most reliable ways to protect vulnerable groups and maintain social distance during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are proud to be able to provide contactless food and grocery delivery services to so many people at such a challenging time. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the needs of the community have increased fivefold.

Starship robots line up at Bridgewater State University

Since we started our first commercial delivery service in 2018, we have been seeing exponential growth. In the past year, Starship has set a number of new delivery records within the company and expanded to more university campuses, including Arizona State University (ASU), University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) and University of California Irvine. In addition to opening the service in Mountain View, California, we also started delivery services in Modesto, California with our new partner, The Save Mart Companies.

If you are interested in solving difficult challenges and want to have a positive impact on the local community and the environment, we are happy to hear from you because we are currently hiring for multiple positions. We plan to expand the Starship team by approximately 40-50% this year alone. Welcome to 2021!

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