Robôs semelhantes a cães da Rivr se juntam às vans da Veho para resolver a entrega de encomendas ‘últimos 100 metros’ em Austin

Most delivery automation stops at the curb. But for Veho
[https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/15/funding-round-veho-deliver/] and Zurich-based
robotics startup Rivr, the real challenge — and opportunity — lies in those
final 100 yards from van to doorstep.

In a pilot program launching Tuesday in Austin, Rivr’s four-wheeled,
stair-climbing delivery robot, which CEO and founder Marko Bjelonic describes as
“a dog on roller skates,” will ferry packages from Veho’s vans directly to
customers’ front doors.

The companies are starting small, they told TechCrunch exclusively. Just one
highly supervised robot will work daily, making five- to six-hour runs over the
span of a couple weeks throughout Austin. But both companies see it as a
critical step toward solving a unique slice of the end-to-end autonomous
delivery journey.

Bjelonic says in last-mile delivery, “robotics makes an impact by actually
solving these very challenging problems that are actually quite easy for humans
but hard for robots. And we see [Rivr] as a differentiator, almost as the next
evolutionary step from the sidewalk robots.”

The partnership with Veho also gives Rivr an opportunity to both test its
technology and accumulate data necessary to build a general physical AI
framework.

“What we have seen in the robotic space is that there’s a data barrier, because
ChatGPT and other chatbots have the internet as training data, and autonomous
cars have thousands of cars on the street that they can attach sensors to and
start collecting data,” Bjelonic told TechCrunch. “But in the robotics world,
that kind of dataset is missing, so you need to find the meaningful use case
where you can solve a real problem, and then you can start collecting all of the
data to make these robots more intelligent.”

For Veho, which delivers across 50 U.S. markets for brands like Sephora, Saks,
HelloFresh, and more, this partnership is a chance to test what automation looks
like from the van to the customer’s door. That could eventually allow for more
deliveries to take place at once, particularly in dense urban areas where both
the driver and the robot can tag-team a particular street simultaneously.
Bjelonic says Rivr’s “robot helpers” can also “reduce the workload on these
drivers” by taking over the physically demanding task of walking door to door.

Techcrunch event

JOIN US AT TECHCRUNCH SESSIONS: AI

SECURE YOUR SPOT FOR OUR LEADING AI INDUSTRY EVENT WITH SPEAKERS FROM OPENAI,
ANTHROPIC, AND COHERE. FOR A LIMITED TIME, TICKETS ARE JUST $292 FOR AN ENTIRE
DAY OF EXPERT TALKS, WORKSHOPS, AND POTENT NETWORKING.

EXHIBIT AT TECHCRUNCH SESSIONS: AI

SECURE YOUR SPOT AT TC SESSIONS: AI AND SHOW 1,200+ DECISION-MAKERS WHAT YOU’VE
BUILT — WITHOUT THE BIG SPEND. AVAILABLE THROUGH MAY 9 OR WHILE TABLES LAST.

Berkeley, CA | June 5
REGISTER NOW
[https://techcrunch.com/events/tc-sessions-ai/?promo=tc_inline_exhibit&utm_campaign=tcsessionsai2025&utm_content=exhibit&utm_medium=ad&utm_source=tc]

During the Austin trial, a Rivr employee will accompany the bot to ensure safety
and delivery quality. Bjelonic told TechCrunch the bots can operate
autonomously, but remote operators will be able to tap in if they get stuck.

The Austin pilot will start in the more residential area of Northwest Austin
before expanding to denser areas of town, according to Fred Cook, Veho’s
co-founder and CTO. In the future, Cook says he could imagine pairing the
vehicles with certain types of vehicles with charging stations for the bots to
keep them going for a full day of work.

Rivr hopes to use the learnings from its partnership with Veho to scale to 100
bots by next year and thousands in 2027. The startup is currently operating in
the U.K. through a partnership with delivery platform Evri. Rivr has raised more
than $25 million, including from a Jeff Bezos-led round that valued the company
at $100 million
[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-08-28/ai-robot-firm-swiss-mile-said-worth-100-million-in-bezos-led-fund-raiser].

Topics

delivery robots [https://techcrunch.com/tag/delivery-robots/], Exclusive
[https://techcrunch.com/tag/exclusive/], last-mile logistics
[https://techcrunch.com/tag/last-mile-logistics-2/], rivr
[https://techcrunch.com/tag/rivr/], Robotics
[https://techcrunch.com/category/robotics/], Transportation
[https://techcrunch.com/category/transportation/], Veho
[https://techcrunch.com/tag/veho/]

https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com%2F2025%2F05%2F27%2Fveho-is-piloting-rivrs-dog-like-robots-for-last-100-yards-parcel-delivery-in-austin%2F
https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com%2F2025%2F05%2F27%2Fveho-is-piloting-rivrs-dog-like-robots-for-last-100-yards-parcel-delivery-in-austin%2F&text=Rivr%E2%80%99s+dog-like+robots+join+Veho+vans+to+solve+%E2%80%98last-100-yards%E2%80%99+parcel+delivery+in+Austin&via=techcrunch
https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com%2F2025%2F05%2F27%2Fveho-is-piloting-rivrs-dog-like-robots-for-last-100-yards-parcel-delivery-in-austin%2F&title=Rivr%E2%80%99s+dog-like+robots+join+Veho+vans+to+solve+%E2%80%98last-100-yards%E2%80%99+parcel+delivery+in+Austin&summary=Zurich-based+robotics+startup+Rivr+is+partnering+with+Veho+to+deliver+parcels+in+Austin.+&mini=1&source=TechCrunch
https://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com%2F2025%2F05%2F27%2Fveho-is-piloting-rivrs-dog-like-robots-for-last-100-yards-parcel-delivery-in-austin%2F&title=Rivr%E2%80%99s+dog-like+robots+join+Veho+vans+to+solve+%E2%80%98last-100-yards%E2%80%99+parcel+delivery+in+Austin
?subject=Rivr%E2%80%99s+dog-like+robots+join+Veho+vans+to+solve+%E2%80%98last-100-yards%E2%80%99+parcel+delivery+in+Austin&body=Article%3A+https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com%2F2025%2F05%2F27%2Fveho-is-piloting-rivrs-dog-like-robots-for-last-100-yards-parcel-delivery-in-austin%2F

Rivr’s dog-like robots join Veho vans to solve ‘last-100-yards’ parcel delivery in Austin

Rebecca Bellan
[https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/bellan-rebecca-contributor-copy.jpg?w=150]
Rebecca Bellan

Senior Reporter

Tweets by RebeccaBellan

https://bsky.app/profile/rebeccabellan.bsky.social

Rebecca Bellan is a senior reporter at TechCrunch, where she covers Tesla and
Elon Musk’s broader empire, autonomy, AI, electrification, gig work platforms,
Big Tech regulatory scrutiny, and more. She’s one of the co-hosts of the Equity
podcast and writes the TechCrunch Daily morning newsletter. Previously, she
covered social media for Forbes.com, and her work has appeared in Bloomberg
CityLab, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, Mother Jones, i-D (Vice) and more.
Rebecca has invested in Ethereum.

View Bio [https://techcrunch.com/author/rebecca-bellan/]
Event Logo
[https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/techcrunch-sessions-ai-small-logo.jpg]
June 5, 2025
Berkeley, California

LIMITED TIME: Save $300+ on your ticket, plus an additional 50% on a second for
a full immersive day of AI! Hear from AI pioneers from Google DeepMind, OpenAI,
Anthropic, and more on the main stage and in breakouts, and network like never
before.

REGISTER NOW
[https://techcrunch.com/events/tc-sessions-ai/?utm_source=tc&utm_medium=ad&utm_campaign=tcsessionsai2025&utm_content=earlybirdbogo&promo=tceventssidebar_ebbogo&display=]

MyMagaz.In

Highlight

Conheça o novo analista cobrindo Zero Trust e Microsegmentação

O que esperar na Viva Technology 2025?

Lojas online estrangeiras dominam o comércio eletrônico na Áustria

Marcas de beleza mesclam IA em suas operações

Guitar Center mira em planejamento de estoque otimizado e visibilidade

Adultos impulsionam vendas de brinquedos nos EUA

CEO da Shoe Carnival: Shoe Station é o ‘futuro de nossa base de lojas’

Futuro da Joann é um mistério enquanto Michaels adquire propriedade intelectual e marcas privadas