Estonian autonomous delivery company Starship Technologies has partnered with Cambridgeshire County Council and Co-op to trial food delivery robots in Cambourne, UK.

As part of the trial, Starship’s autonomous robots will deliver grocery items from local Co-op stores to 12,000 residents in 5,000 homes from 17 May.

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Eligible residents living in Lower and Upper Cambourne will be able to order from the Co-op store on Mosquito Road in Upper Cambourne.

Customers can schedule their delivery, enter a pin of their address and trace the package in real-time through an interactive map.

Starship plans to expand the service across the county subject to the performance of the trial.

Cambridgeshire County Council Highways and Transport Committee chair Cllr Alex Beckett said: “The partnership between the council and Starship is tremendously exciting and has the potential to make life easier for thousands of residents while also reducing congestion.

“Hopefully, the trial will be a success, which would allow us to extend the benefits of quick and easy deliveries to more people across the county.”

Starship’s robots are powered by zero-carbon electricity and are claimed to consume as little energy as is needed to boil a cup of tea.

The lightweight robots use sensors, artificial intelligence and machine learning to navigate around any obstacles. They have a maximum speed of 4mph, which is roughly the same as the average pedestrian.

Starship Technologies UK operation manager Andrew Curtis said: “In the last few years, we have had extremely positive feedback from people using our service regularly in Milton Keynes and Northampton who have embraced the robots as part of their local communities.

“We’re looking forward to working closely with the council in Cambridgeshire and hopefully expanding the scope of this initial project.”

In September last year, Co-op extended its partnership with Starship Technologies by adding more than 300 autonomous vehicles to its robot fleet.