DoorDash reports only 'several hundred' AI agent orders amid hype cycle
CEO Tony Xu says third-party AI agents have driven minimal orders relative to DoorDash's 3 million daily deliveries, tempering expectations around autonomous commerce.
What to know
- Despite hype about AI agents disrupting commerce, DoorDash has received only "several hundred" orders from third-party agents versus its 3 million daily deliveries.
- CEO Tony Xu urged realistic assessment: the technology is evolving but adoption remains marginal, with most users still ordering through DoorDash's app.
- DoorDash is hedging by building its own agents (text-to-order, CLI, chatbot) while expressing openness to partnerships and potential advertising within third-party agents.
- Retailers are splitting strategies: Amazon is blocking agents; Walmart is welcoming them to capture share from competitors.
“I would say that this [using agents to order] is something that is still a very dynamic area. And my take on all things technology is you never want to fight gravity. But at the same time, you don't want to be delusional.”
Tony Xu, DoorDash CEO · TechCrunch ↗
How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlesposts
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Retailer strategies diverge on AI agent access
Amazon is blocking personal agents from accessing its platform, while Walmart is welcoming them to capture market share. This divergence reflects different strategic approaches to autonomous commerce.
“What I mean by that is if you look at where AI agents are today, we're seeing maybe several hundred orders in total from some of these third-party agents.”
— Tony Xu, DoorDash CEO · source -
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Whenever anyone says that the UX Design focus nowadays should be on “agentic workflows” or how agents will use software: For the week of Halloween, Uber did 320 million trips and Uber Eats deliveries. 500 delivery requests were made with AI. 4 were for rides.
2 more of the top 3 · 62 posts in this stretch
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LOL TechCrunch: DoorDash said it’s only received ‘several hundred’ orders from AI agents (Oct 30, 2026) "...Delivery company DoorDash revealed during its third-quarter earnings call that it has only seen “several hundred” orders from third-party agents like Muse, Instinct, Fo, and others. For comparison, the company said in its 2025 report it…
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Long-time lurker here. I'm probably something of an anomaly at HN because I don't work in anything remotely related to tech - I'm actually a screenwriter. But I enjoy spending time here because the quality of the discourse reminds me of Reddit back in the day.I consistently get the feeling that I must have a rather more humanist and enchanted view…
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background
DoorDash signals openness to agent partnerships while building own tools — The company stated it wants to develop a healthy relationship with third-party agent makers and explore future advertising opportunities within agents. DoorDash has launched multiple proprietary agents, including a text-to-order agent (September), a CLI agent (July), Ask DoorDash chatbot (June), and an MCP for corporate ordering through other chatbots.
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background
DoorDash reveals minimal AI agent adoption in Q3 earnings — During its third-quarter earnings call, DoorDash disclosed that third-party AI agents have generated only "several hundred" orders in total, compared to the company's average of 3 million daily deliveries. CEO Tony Xu acknowledged the dynamic nature of the space while cautioning against both dismissing and overestimating the technology.
Also covered reported alongside — the timeline has no entry for these yet
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first by TechCrunch, 13d ago · also Ars Technica, Business Insider
2 more headlines
- Basically no one is using AI agents for their DoorDash orders Mastodon · 13d ago
- DoorDash's CEO: Don't be 'delusional' after just a few hundred AI agent orders Business Insider · 11d ago
and 2 smaller pieces
What people are saying 21 voices from 5 sites · best of 62 · verbatim
- Nov 5
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> Except that regular people compare 13 different options to pick the cheapest oneExactly.So I have a specialized AI agent that comparison shops for me and tracks prices when I'm placing component orders for my company.Even the first run isn't too painful, but afterwards you can ask it to write memory files with preferences; and any scripts and…
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Yes it's early days for AI agents, but *four* agentic Uber bookings in Halloween week suggests this is not a thing at all
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For purchases that are not frequent or async, any automation is fairly pointless.E.g quick commerce. If I order groceries and a charger and it all shows up in 7 minutes, I will just order it and receive it synchronously, don't need an agent for that anymore than I need an agent to pick it up at my doorstep, that is to say, I don't need one.Food is…
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None of these companies are that incentivised to abandon all other revenue streams in favor of being strictly a backend for another product so that people don't even know what they are using. If you put all of Uber behind a protocol that becomes the main usecase of their service, everyone is now effectively just booking through Priceline or…
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In my opinion, I think might have to do more with the dark patterns that are created by these apps. DoorDash, Uber. You place an order and there's all these hidden things that get added in you don't really see. You don't really get to recognize unless you do it manually. It's it's trickery in a way. They they try to gouge and get extra fees and…
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Is fast food/delivery food so frequently used that this is now warranted?Even at my most gluttonous, many years ago, I would order maybe a single takeaway every other week, and when I did that, I'd want to be in complete control to browse and try new things. The only use case I can see for AI is as an alternative to traditional search to work out…
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Because they dont work. End of the story.The other day I want to have a 1m cable extension male/female for a XH1.25 It is impossible to find one, because you only find kits to make your own, or a 20 or 30cm one.I tried with several free LLM, so that they can likely watch much more than I can do and filter all kits, and give the cable I want.Not a…
- Nov 4
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Recently I needed to book a table for 16 for a rehearsal dinner. I used ChatGPT work to find availabilities and create an html doc of only restaurants that could handle our party size, with pictures, menu comparisons, locations, and approximate prices. It knocked the task out of the park and I went with one of the recommended restaurants.That…
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50秒で済む配車を、エージェントに任せたい？11月4日の記事では、Uberのハロウィーン週のAI経由配車は4件、アプリでの予約は平均50秒だという。僕は実装の評価にも、既存アプリで終える時間を並べたい。初期の数字だけど、確認の往復も含めて速いかは気になる。https://techcrunch.com/2026/11/04/almost-no-one-uses-ai-agents-to-book-their-uber-company-says/ 何分かかる用事なら任せたくなる？
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During its busiest week last quarter, Uber said only 4 people booked a ride using an AI agent. https:// techcrunch.com/2026/11/04/almo st-no-one-uses-ai-agents-to-book-their-uber-company-says/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon
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The problem with AI assistants in general is that humans barely ever know what they want and the promise is that AI can intuit/predict what we want. It can't. People like to shop. It's easier to shop with our eyes than our ears. Personal assistants, as far as I can tell, have one use case and that is doing mundane chores like e-mail summaries. But…
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Uber fulfilled 4 (four) rides from AI agents last quarter lmao
- Nov 1
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Plus it seems so prone to error. I can't be the only one who triple checks addresses and order items before clicking "place order". No way I trust AI with either my information and to get all the details of what I want right.
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I agree. The business model consists of practices and norms I dislike: Extra fees Exploited underpaid workers Tipping culture Very inconsistent service
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Couldn't find a local retailer who'll handle that quantity so placed the order in China and arranged a shipping container. Additional fees apply.
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Yes but thats not the only example. It lets them cling deludedly to the idea "its all ok look at this shiny tech that will make it all ok" The delusion is a safer thought then "we have to fix all this ourselves".
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I ask mine what to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. As of today, I’m 20 pounds down and went from 300 mg of caffeine to 50 over the last eight weeks. Using AI chat for weight loss has been astoundingly good
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Yep having Muse browse marketplace works better than the marketplace search ever has. If someone is selling shoes in my size in a 10 mile radius my muse agent will put it on a dashboard of things I have told it to research that I am thinking of buying. I have only bought like one jacket so far using this dashboard, but I can see the vision of how…
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Well, I can tell you are about as dumb as a brick thrown out of an special education departments window. "Do more work for no reason." You consider reading an email, remembering a date, and putting it on a calendar WORK?! Holy shit it must be difficult for you to exist day to day, if something that SIMPLE is WORK!
- Oct 30
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DoorDash says outside AI agents have only led to "hundreds" of orders so far But it's still early days for the relatively new e-commerce use case. https:// arstechnica.com/ai/2026/10/doo rdash-says-outside-ai-agents-have-only-led-to-hundreds-of-orders-so-far/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
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#DoorDash said it’s only received ‘several hundred’ orders from #AIagents