DoorDash pays drivers to load its delivery robots

DoorDash is paying some drivers about $5 to perform a task its autonomous delivery robots still cannot handle: picking up restaurant orders and loading them into the machines.

The work involves Dot, DoorDash’s purpose-built autonomous delivery robot. The large, stroller-shaped vehicle uses lidar, radar, and cameras to navigate roads and sidewalks at speeds of up to 20 miles per hour, but it still requires a person to place food inside its cargo compartment.

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How DoorDash’s Dot loading jobs work

Devena Bybee, a DoorDash worker in Mesa, Arizona, told Business Insider that the company offered her a Dot-loading assignment through the app in July. She drove about two miles to a restaurant, collected the order, and placed it inside a Dot waiting in the parking lot. She also had to photograph and document each step.

The job took about five minutes and paid roughly $5. A June post in a Facebook group for DoorDash drivers described a similar assignment in Scottsdale, Arizona: “Had a DOT order today. Had to load her up and send her on her way, quick $5.00 for going .25 miles to get there.” The accompanying screenshot instructed the driver to “Find the Dot Robot” and said the customer’s name would appear on the robot’s light bar.

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DoorDash unveiled Dot in September 2025 and has since begun using the robots for deliveries in the Phoenix area. The driver offers appear to be new. DoorDash did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment, but a spokesperson told Business Insider:

“This limited pilot is designed to support merchants during busy periods, while creating more earning opportunities for Dashers outside of traditional deliveries.”

DoorDash’s human handoff problem

The pilot appears aimed at restaurants handling a high volume of robot delivery orders. Robert Bruno, a professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, told Business Insider that some restaurants may also find it cheaper to outsource loading to DoorDash’s independent contractors.

DoorDash also pushed back on the idea that autonomous delivery will eliminate its human workforce:

“Dashers are essential to our platform and will continue completing the majority of deliveries even as our autonomous technology scales.”

The development follows DoorDash’s announcement last week that it received Federal Aviation Administration approval to commercially operate its own drone delivery service, DoorDash Air. Like Dot, the drones are being developed in-house by DoorDash Labs, the company’s robotics and autonomy team.

DoorDash said the difficult part is not necessarily building the aircraft, but creating the systems needed to move orders from merchants into autonomous vehicles. The company cited real-time inventory reconciliation and universal handoff systems for drive-throughs, rooftops, and merchant back doors. It plans to share more details about DoorDash Air later this year.

This is also not the first time human workers have been asked to handle a task autonomous vehicles cannot. Waymo has used DoorDash drivers and tow truck operators to close doors passengers left open on its robotaxis. DoorDash has not said how long the Dot loading pilot will run or how widely it plans to expand it.