Black BOx - Current COnditions
Quad 4 is the worst environment for Casual Dining, while the stocks have corrected there is more to come.
Casual dining and family dining were the only two segments that experienced negative sales growth during the week ending June 19th.
DASH
DoorDash filed a patent application Tuesday for an autonomous vehicle that would include a storage compartment for perishable goods.
The AV would include a sensor module for receiving data, such as audio, video, radio waves, and backscattered light waves, for navigation. An onboard computer would process the data to navigate it alongside the motor vehicle and pedestrian routes, the application said. While the company said patents don’t necessarily indicate what’s under development, DoorDash previously said in November that one of the goals of its DoorDash Labs is to automate the middle mile, reducing individual efforts for delivery and provide Dashers an ability to fulfill more orders. DoorDash has been testing various autonomous delivery systems for years, including partnerships with Starship Technologies, ground-delivery robot maker Marble, and General Motors’ Cruise Automation. It also acquired Scotty Labs in 2019 and Chowbotics in 2021 and filed two patents for AVs in 2019. DoorDash isn’t alone in its consideration of AVs. This year Uber Eats is piloting delivery bots with Serve Robotics, a company that was previously part of Postmates before it was spun off post-acquisition. It also partnered with Motional for a pilot this year to test its all-electric autonomous vehicles. Grubhub partnered with Cartken in June to bring robot delivery to college campuses, starting with a pilot in spring at the Ohio State University. It also previously partnered with Yandex at specific universities, but the relationship ended in March.
