• Starship Technologies, an autonomous delivery droid manufacturer, has partnered with global identity verification solutions provider Veriff to incorporate identity authentication and re-verification services into its droids to deliver age-restricted items in the UK. Reportedly, this marks the first autonomous last-mile delivery service for such items in the world.

• Veriff will offer added security and safety to Starship by re-authenticating customers through Veriff’s AI-powered biometric identity verification platform. The customers will be able to unlock the droid once their identity has been verified via Veriff’s platform at the time of delivery.

• Starship also plans to expand the identity verification service to more geographies in the future.

<ul><li> Analyst QuickTake: Starship Technologies is currently operating in two UK towns, namely, Milton Keynes and Northampton, in addition to its operations in the US and other European countries. In 2018, the company launched its commercial delivery service in Milton Keynes in partnership with Tesco and Co-op Food. The service gradually expanded, adding new vendors to include service areas to 15+ neighborhoods in Milton Keynes. Starship also added Northampton in November 2020 and has been expanding in the town since. The company also has plans to extend the service to Cambridgeshire and the North of England.</ul>