First for both Grubhub and Wonder as robot delivery pilot goes live outside of US college campuses
Grubhub is expanding its partnership with Avride to launch a robot delivery pilot for customers ordering from Wonder's Jersey City location.
This marks the first time Grubhub has offered autonomous delivery in its marketplace outside of college campuses - and the first time Wonder is bringing robot delivery to its customers.
During the pilot, customers can place orders from Wonder's Jersey City location through the Grubhub platform as usual. If an eligible delivery address is within a set range of the restaurant, they will have the option to choose delivery via an Avride robot.
Following the pilot, Grubhub plans to implement any learnings and expand autonomous delivery to additional markets nationwide.
"This pilot represents the next step in our mission to provide diners with fast, reliable, and delightful delivery experiences," says PJ Poykayil, SVP of Customer Delivery Operations at Wonder and Grubhub. "By combining Grubhub's marketplace, Wonder's culinary innovation, and Avride's advanced robotics, we're delivering the future of convenience."
"We're proud to be Grubhub's trusted partner as they bring robot delivery beyond campuses for the very first time. For Avride, this marks an important step in expanding robotic delivery. Going beyond traditional restaurant or grocery delivery, it highlights how seamlessly our technology can integrate with innovative platforms like Wonder's, opening up new business verticals for autonomous delivery," says Dmitry Polishchuk, CEO at Avride.
Grubhub and Avride have completed more than 100,000 robot deliveries across US campuses, including The Ohio State University, home to the largest single site robot food delivery programme in the country, where a fleet of over 120 robots delivers meals to students every day.
2025 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS
Robot delivery was a key focus area at the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards.
We received a record number of entries and many fantastic examples of the continued resilience and dynamism of the retail space during hugely challenging times.
For a full rundown of all of the shortlisted entries, click here.
Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC in Central London on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”
“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”
He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”
Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.
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