Los Angeles’ fleet of sidewalk delivery robots is about to acquire a significant upgrade. Coco Robotics, the UCLA-born startup behind the bots, unveiled its next-generation model, Coco 2, on Thursday, promising increased durability and autonomy for its expanding delivery service.
The new robots are larger than their predecessors and equipped with upgraded cameras and lidar, a laser-based sensor technology commonly used in self-driving vehicles. Coco has partnered with Nvidia to provide the hardware powering the new bots, according to the company. Coco 2 is designed to operate in conditions that would keep human delivery drivers off the road, including flooded streets and snowy conditions, with the ability to become fully submersible and accommodate snow tires.
The upgrade comes after a recent video circulated online showing a Coco bot struggling through flooded streets in Los Angeles earlier this month. A bystander recorded the scene, commenting, “She’s doing her best!” and sparking a wave of supportive responses online.
“We seek it to have a lot more reliability in the most extreme conditions where it’s either unsafe or uncomfortable for human drivers to be on the road,” said Zach Rash, co-founder and CEO of Coco. “Those are the exact times where everyone wants to order.”
Coco plans to begin mass production of Coco 2 this summer, aiming for a monthly output of 1,000 robots. The bots feature a sleek, pink-and-white ombré design and a larger cargo compartment. While many will be deployed to expand Coco’s reach into new markets in Europe and Asia, a significant number will too bolster the company’s presence in Los Angeles.
Currently, Coco operates approximately 300 bots in Los Angeles, serving areas from Santa Monica and Venice to Westwood, Mid-City, West Hollywood, Hollywood, Echo Park, Silver Lake, downtown, Koreatown, and the USC area. The company is currently in discussions with officials in Culver City, Long Beach, and Pasadena regarding potential expansion into those communities, and has also received interest from Studio City, Burbank, and the San Fernando Valley, according to Rash.
“A lot of the markets that we go into have been telling us they can’t hire enough people to do the deliveries and to continue to grow at the pace that customers want,” Rash said. “There’s quite a lot of area in Los Angeles that we can still cover.”
Coco’s delivery service already operates in Chicago, Miami, Helsinki, Finland, and Jersey City, New Jersey. Last year, the company formed a partnership with DashMart, DoorDash’s delivery-only online store, enabling Coco bots to deliver groceries, electronics, household essentials, and prepared meals. With Coco 2, the company is exploring the possibility of utilizing bike lanes and road shoulders for faster deliveries, where permissible.
While designed for autonomous operation, Coco 2 will still rely on human oversight to address unforeseen obstacles such as damaged sidewalks or unexpected construction. This need for supervision has created new job opportunities for residents in the areas where the bots operate. Despite isolated incidents of pedestrians interfering with the robots, Rash reported an overall positive community response, emphasizing the company’s intention to create bots that are perceived as friendly and approachable.
Coco Robotics was founded in 2020 as a dorm room project by Rash and fellow UCLA student Brad Squicciarini. The company has completed over 500,000 zero-emission deliveries, and its bots have collectively traveled around 1 million miles. Coco prioritizes deployment in dense neighborhoods with clustered restaurants, short delivery distances, and limited parking availability. Rash maintains that the bots are not displacing human delivery drivers, but rather filling gaps in the market and offering a more affordable and safer delivery option. “This vehicle is inherently a lot safer for communities than a car,” Rash said. “We believe our vehicles can operate the highest quality of service and we can do it at the lowest price point.”
