​Co-op extends robot grocery delivery service to more areas across Leeds

Collaborating with Starship Technologies and Leed City Council, the Co-op will extend the service to cover a further 12,000 households in the Kippax and Swarcliffe areas.

This follows a successful pilot launched in November that saw 20,000 residents in the Adel and Tinshill area of Leeds gain access to Starship’s delivery service.

As well as areas in Leeds, the autonomous deliveries have also been rolled out in Greater Manchester, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Bedford, Cambourne and Cambridge. 

Delivery fees start from 99p, and customers can use the Starship food delivery app and receive their order in minutes.

Since launching, Starship’s fleet of more than 2,000 robots has completed over 5 million deliveries around the world.

Co-op ecommerce director Chris Conway said: “Co-op stores are well placed in the heart of local communities to provide quick, easy and convenient grocery home deliveries for time-pressed shoppers – whether that is a full shop or for last-minute top-ups and forgotten items. 

“We are committed to exploring new and innovative ways to increase access to our products and services, and delighted to be able to roll out robot deliveries to provide further online flexibility and choice for consumers across Leeds.”

Starship Technologies director of European operations Andrew Curtis added: “The feedback we have received since first launching in Leeds last year has been overwhelmingly positive and we are pleased to be able to extend the benefits the robots have provided to an additional 12,000 homes from today. 

“More and more people are conscious of trying to reduce their carbon footprint and our robots help with this by eliminating the need for short car journeys to pick up groceries.”