• Ottonomy IO, a delivery droid manufacturer, has rolled out a fleet of “Ottobots,” its fully autonomous delivery droids, at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) to deliver food and other retail products. The company claims this marks the first autonomous delivery robot fleet navigating in an airport environment.

• The program will be available throughout the holiday season for passengers, delivering items sold at select Paradies Lagardere-owned retail stores—an operator of stores in airports, hotels, and other locations in North America. Customers can place orders via a dedicated website.

• Ottonomy IO first piloted the robot at the same airport in late 2020, gathering feedback from customers. The live program, launched today, will also gather additional information to enhance the product offering further.

<ul><li> Analyst QuickTake: Today’s launch adds to back-to-back sales partnerships Ottonomy IO entered into in late 2021, including partnerships with Los Angeles-based mobile food ordering app Crave (in November) and Redwood, California-based restaurant tech company Presto (in December) for contactless food deliveries, focusing on restaurants and hospitality businesses. Incumbent Piaggio Fast Forward (PFF), too, has piloted its delivery droid at airports including CVG in the past. However, its operations were different to that of Ottonomy IO’s, as they were only used to assist delivery personnel to carry goods to customers by pairing with them.</ul>