Hyundai Teases Delivery Bots
Subway's drones take off, Circus launches in China, SoundHound buys Allset
Woof — this week’s a big one, with plenty of big news rocking the restaurant and retail automation industry. We’ve got multiple drones taking off, big funding rounds to track, plus an interesting acquisition. Read on for more details!
Hyundai Debuts DAL-e
Korean automotive giant Hyundai’s Robotics Lab has just revealed a new machine, aimed to ease the delivery of food and beverages inside office complexes. Dubbed, DAL-e (not to be confused with the AI image generator,) the bot is already live at a “smart office” complex in Seoul, working with a 99.9% accuracy rate. Working alongside DAL-e are a few other ingenuous new robots, including one that can automatically charge EVs and another that can re-position parked vehicles.
Subway Plans Drone Delivery Stunt
Come on Subway, is this all just some sort of joke to you?! The sandwich chain has a new offering in mind from 6/24 to 7/1, timed for the all-important World UFO Day holiday. The company will be making drone-powered deliveries, to select Subway MVP Rewards members, in Atlanta, Dallas, Denver and Orlando. While Subway doesn’t mention it in the press release, we can share that the drone revealed in the photo most certainly looks like Flytrex’s hardware.
Circus To Build 5,400 Autonomous Kitchens in China
German autonomous kitchen startup Circus SE has signed a major MoU with the Beijing University Food Raw Material Joint Procurement Centre, with the intent to build 5,400 food production robots over the next few years, with revenue estimates coming in as high as the “low single-digit billion euro range.” Circus’ CA-1 machine occupies 20 square meters, features two robotic arms and 50 motors and even automates dishwashing.
SoundHound Bolsters Voice Ordering Play with Allset Acquisition
SoundHound AI is doubling down on its play to power restaurant voice ordering solutions, with the acquisition of Allset. While the purchase price is undisclosed, SoundHound is taking on the entire Allset team, with the latter currently boasting 7,000 restaurant partners, including Joe & The Juice, Potbelly Sandwich Shop and Bibibop. While competitors like Presto Automation have struggled with AI-powered voice ordering, SoundHound looks to be seeing more success, as it now services over 10,000 restaurant locations, with more to come once this deal closes.
Verity Drones Come to On’s Warehouse
Well here’s a different spin on delivery drones… Swiss sportswear brand On is bringing flying machines into its warehouse, thanks to a new partnership with Verity. Verity’s flying machines perform continuous, autonomous inventory checks, reducing operational issues by 4 to 11% while cutting down on greenhouse emissions.
Foodtech Funding Wobbles
New data from DigitalFoodLab shows the highs and lows of the foodtech ecosystem in Europe. The region’s largest market, the United Kingdom, saw funding fall 33% to €1.1 billion, with France also showing a large decline. Smaller markets held up better, with the Netherlands nearly flat, Germany growing 37% and Switzerland up a whopping 194%, driven mostly by Atlas Agro. Breaking down sub-sectors by funding size in the first half of 2024: food science hauled in €1.850B, followed by delivery at €1.750B and AgTech at €1.7B. Bringing up the rear are supply chains at €400M, foodservice at €300M and consumer tech with just €50M.
In Other News
Join us for a casual mobility & delivery industry happy hour, 7/11 in Culver City. ChowNow Founder Chris Webb shares what’s next for first party delivery. Cruise fined $112,500 for delaying report on SF crash. Singapore goes big on lab grown meat. How scientists make bread that can last months without going bad. Waabi raises $200M, plans for self-driving trucks to hit road by 2025. Grubbrr’s self-ordering kiosks head to 53-unit PDQ Chicken. Ocado shares plummet after Sobeys pauses launch of robo-grocery warehouse in Vancouver.