Kakao Mobility Corp. is pushing into outdoor robot deliveries through a partnership with robotics specialist Robotis, marking the ride-hailing giant’s latest effort to diversify its business model.
The collaboration will integrate Kakao’s Bring delivery platform with Robotis’s autonomous vehicles to handle short-distance deliveries for local merchants, including food and parcels. This expansion follows Kakao Mobility’s earlier indoor robot delivery trials at select locations in Seoul and Jecheon.
The move comes as South Korean tech companies race to capture market share in the growing autonomous delivery sector, which has seen increased demand since the pandemic. Kakao Mobility, which dominates the country’s taxi-hailing market, is betting on robotics to reduce delivery costs and address labor shortages.
Under the agreement, Robotis will focus on developing specialized robots for both indoor and outdoor deliveries, while Kakao Mobility will create an integrated service model using its Bring ON platform.
The company began testing its robot delivery service last April at Noudit Seoul Forest, a mixed-use space in Seoul’s Seongdong district, before expanding to the Restree Resom resort in North Chungcheong Province.
