Deliveroo's robots are due this month. Nobody's driverless permit is.
Deliveroo names five UK places for Coco's pavement robots, starting in Canary Wharf this October. Plus: BT's AI receptionist terms, Tesla's EU vote slips, and a robovac you can't buy.
A quieter week, which is not a complaint. One new arrival date, a couple of price changes, and more companies queuing for a London robotaxi permit that nobody has yet been granted.
The lead: Deliveroo’s robots are due in Canary Wharf this month
On 5 October Deliveroo and Coco Robotics announced an exclusive UK deal to put Coco’s pavement robots on Deliveroo orders. The first area is Wood Wharf in Canary Wharf “this October”, with Patty&Bun, Signorelli and Beam as launch restaurants. Milton Keynes, Leeds, Stockton on Tees and Nottingham follow “in the coming weeks and months”.
The robots are electric and travel at walking pace. There’s no fleet size, no fee and no split between robot and rider orders. Deliveroo says the majority will still go to riders. By Sunday we had found no report of a completed delivery, so the board says “due”, not “landed”.
Pavement robots aren’t new here. Starship has run in Milton Keynes since 2018 and now works through Uber Eats and Just Eat in Leeds, Sheffield, Sunderland and others. We also owe you a correction: our Starship entry had missed its Barnsley pilot with Just Eat, which started on 8 April and covers about 11,000 households. It’s on the board now.
The October date goes into the Slip Index. It has until 31 October.
What it means for you: if you run a takeaway in one of the five areas, robots will come through the Deliveroo app you already use, not a new contract. Ask how robot orders are charged and packed before you agree to take part. And if you’re in Leeds, you may soon have two robot fleets to step round.
Shipped
- AI receptionists. BT Business’s AI Receptionist went on sale on 1 October. Its product page still has no list price. It does show the terms: 100-minute bundles on a monthly rolling contract, half price on the 100- and 300-minute packages for six months if you sign up by 20 November, and an optional £150 setup session. Fasthosts remains the one to beat on published pricing, from £39 a month ex VAT.
- Unitree’s G1 humanoid is now £20,999.99 at Scan, in stock. Last Black Friday it was £18,999. The R1 prices haven’t changed.
- Gemini in Google Workspace. Google is replacing Gems, its custom assistants, with “skills”, rolling out to Workspace from 5 October. Business users can keep using Gems until no sooner than 1 March 2027, and existing ones are migrated. There’s no price change.
- Landed, but try finding one: the Roborock Saros Z70, the robovac with an arm, is listed at £1,599 on Roborock’s UK store, down from £1,799. It’s out of stock there, and the Amazon UK listing says “currently unavailable”. We haven’t seen anything saying it’s been discontinued.
Due in
- Deliveroo robots: Canary Wharf, October. See above.
- Android XR glasses: a Samsung official told the Korea Herald the glasses launch in November. That’s unnamed and unofficial, and there’s still no UK date or price.
Delayed
- Driverless taxi and bus pilots: still no permit reported. The Department for Transport’s current promise is “later this year”, which leaves about 11 weeks. The queue keeps growing. On 8 October Pony.ai and Uber said they would start testing in London “in the coming weeks”. Baidu has been testing in Brent with Freenow by Lyft since July and says public rides start in 2027.
- Waymo London: on 8 October Waymo closed $5bn of debt financing to expand “across the United States and internationally”. It didn’t mention London or give a date. The board still says end of 2026.
- Vertical’s Valo: still aiming for certification in 2029. On 2 October the company disclosed a NYSE notice that its share price had averaged below $1, which it has six months to fix. It says the notice won’t affect operations.
Not orderable, still
- Tesla FSD: an EU-wide vote on the Dutch approval was expected on 6 October but didn’t happen. Germany’s transport ministry now says December. None of this applies to the UK, which has its own approval route, and there’s still no sign Tesla has applied here.
- Tesla Optimus: Tesla’s next results call is on 21 October. If there’s a reveal date or a price, you’ll read it here.
- 1X NEO and Figure 03: no confirmed home deliveries and no UK plans. We checked.
That’s the board for this week. If you know a café or takeaway in Canary Wharf, Milton Keynes, Leeds, Stockton or Nottingham, forward this to them. See you next Tuesday at 7am.