The good people of Barnsley will soon get to experience the award-winning Starship self-driving robots thanks to a new delivery partnership with Just Eat.
Having bagged our inaugural Fleet Operator Award in October, Starship Technologies’ ambitious UK expansion programme is proceeding at pace.
With more than 2,700 robots globally, the last-mile specialist has already made over a million deliveries in the UK, serving communities in Milton Keynes, Northamptonshire, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
Launched in 2014 by two of Skype’s co-founders, Janus Friis and Ahti Heinla, it now describes itself as the “undisputed leader in autonomous last-mile delivery”.
This latest pilot with Just Eat will see its zero-emission robots delivering hot meals directly from local restaurants to customers’ doors in Carlton, Athersley, Monk Bretton and Lundwood.
Robot comments
“Our ground robotics trials are all about innovating to improve the customer experience,” said Mert Öztekin, Chief Technology Officer at Just Eat. “We’ve teamed up with a diverse range of local independent restaurants to trial the Starship robots, and we’ll be listening to their feedback closely, as well as that of our customers.”
Chief Executive of Starship, Ahti Heinla, added: “Our little robots have been providing a much-loved service to communities across the UK since 2018, and we’re excited to launch in Barnsley with Just Eat.
“Barnsley is exactly the kind of community we built Starship for – where technology serves people ethically and respectfully. We’re confident locals will enjoy the convenience our robots bring, making life a little easier.”
An economic impact assessment by Prysm Global suggests that scaling autonomous delivery across the UK could unlock £1.3 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) for the national economy by 2035, alongside hundreds of high-skilled jobs.
The study estimates that Barnsley alone could see a £3.9 million GVA uplift as automated delivery becomes more popular.
It certainly delivers on the South Yorkshire town’s burgeoning reputation as a centre for innovation, officially the UK’s first government-backed ‘Tech Town’.
Giving a local perspective, Starship’s Vice President of Global Public Affairs, Lisa Johnson, posted on LinkedIn: “I love launching in places people don’t expect. I grew up 20 minutes from Barnsley.
“If you’d told me back then it would be a tech town – and that I’d be rolling out robots as a VP at a tech company – I’d have said you’d had a few too many down Durty O’Dwyers.
“But here we are. This is what the future of physical AI looks like – meeting real-world needs, not just in Silicon Valley, but in places like Barnsley.”
