Starship robots deliver donuts in San Francisco

San Francisco residents see a lot of curious things on the sidewalks that helped launch the hippy movement of the 1960s. But even jaded Californians could be forgiven for gaping when a self-driving, Estonian, robotic delivery vehicle cruised down the Richmond District’s Balboa Street this week.

The autonomous, six-wheeled, picnic cooler steered carefully down the sidewalk at a pedestrian 4 mph before stopping at a predetermined address, opening its lid, and releasing its precious cargo of fresh pastries.

In addition to delivering donuts, the promise of driverless parcel transport could have huge implications for last-mile logistics. But while Amazon.com Inc. is still testing its aerial drones, these rolling robots are well into their demonstration phase.

The vehicles are a product of Starship Technologies, an Estonian startup staffed by two founders of Skype, the Swedish voice-over-internet-protocol (VOIP) telephony company now owned by Microsoft Corp.

Starship ran earlier tests of the 40-pound, single-package delivery platforms earlier this year at various sites in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and said in March that it said to launch U.S. trials soon.

That day is now here, and curious onlookers can see proof at Starship’s Instagram site. No word yet on whether the robots have been trained to take selfies.