Zipline Teases New Platform

McDonald's kiosks turn 25, Kiwibot buys Nickelytics, Amazon Fresh heads to Inland Empire

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Zipline Teases P2 Platform

Zipline is teasing the launch of its new Platform 2 (P2,) set to launch later this year in Dallas. The drone deliverer’s new machines are already being manufactuered, with initial deployment set for partners like Walmart. To celebrate the launch, Zipline hosted a Q&A (video below,) offering insights into its improved reliability. While the video calls out the fallacy of a “private taxi for your burrito” — we wonder if certain critics might instead see this as a “private airplane for your burrito.”

McDonald’s Kiosks Celebrate 25th Anniversary

In a major milestone for the restaurant automation space, McDonald’s self-service kiosks just celebrated 25 years of action, after first being teased in Business Information way back in 1999. At the time, the kiosks were feared as “job killers” but employment in the category has continued to grow, while the machines have also proved adept at pushing customers to opt for meal add-ons. Other pre-Y2K trends, like Beanie Babies, have proved to be slightly less long lasting…

Kiwibot Buys Nickelytics

Delivery robotics player Kiwibot has purchased advertising partner Nickelytics for $25 million, as it looks to keep up its growth momentum in a competitive industry. Nickelytics wraps ads on high visibility vehicles, and counts customers like AWS, Remax, Compass and DirectTV. Nickelytics also works with Kiwibot competitors like Serve and Starship — having launched its inaugural campaign with the latter at Curbivore 2024 — those other PDD providers did not respond to a request for comment on the acquisition.

Pudu Launches D7 Humanoid

Pudu Robotics has made a name for itself in the restaurant automation space, thanks to offerings like its BellaBot tray delivery robot. Now the company is looking to apply its learnings to a more generalized market, launching the D7 semi-humanoid robot. The machine is 5’ 5”, weighs 99 pounds and can run for over eight hours.

Amazon Fresh Expands to Suburbs

Amazon Fresh, the mega-retailer’s automation-enhanced grocery offering, is back in growth mode. The company just opened its 21st store in California, located in the Inland Empire region about 50 miles east of Downtown Los Angeles. Amazon also recently opened its first store in Northern California, and is building out two on Long Island, east of New York City.

In Other News

Mach9 releases new geospatial data processing tool for AVs. Meet the humans that help Zoox’s robotaxis get out of sticky situations. OpenAI’s $6.5 billion round oversubscribed. Behind the scenes with Shinstarr's Olhso AutoWok. Kernel adds weekend hours: 11 AM to 8:30 PM. Cruise robotaxis return to streets of SF.