Chicago lawsuits accuse robot delivery companies Coco and Serve of biometric privacy violations
By Victor Jacobo
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CHICAGO, Illinois (WBBM) — A pair of class-action lawsuits filed in Chicago accuse two robot delivery companies of illegally collecting private biometric information.
The complaints against Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics accuse the companies of violating Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act by collecting people’s facial and hand data through their robots’ cameras.
A representative from Coco denied the allegations.
“This lawsuit fundamentally misunderstands our technology, we have not collected biometric data in Chicago, and we are confident that this frivolous lawsuit will go away,” a Coco spokesperson said in an email.
A spokesperson for Serve also denied any privacy violations.
“Serve Robotics is aware of the complaint and will defend against it,” the spokesperson said. “Our robots use cameras and sensors to navigate the sidewalks of Chicago safely. Serve does not use that data to identify individuals and our systems are not designed to identify individuals or create biometric profiles.”
Josh Robertson, who created a petition to pause the robot delivery pilot program in Chicago, said Chicagoans’ privacy concerns are valid. The petition, dubbed No Sidewalk Bots, urges the city to halt the sidewalk robot program until the technology’s impact is evaluated and rules can be implemented.
“We’ve had over 4,600 Chicagoans add their name to our petition,” he said. “Those who signed and have added their name to the petition have used the optional incident field to voice concerns like privacy-related risks.”
Robertson said the lawsuits against Coco and Serve are the latest examples of concerns over the robots.
“Concerns that folks raise run the gamut,” he said.
Robertson said those concerns include obstruction of pedestrian and car traffic, collisions into infrastructure, and effects on pets and children.
The Personal Delivery Device (PDD) Pilot Program was first introduced to the Chicago City Council by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2022. Under the pilot program, companies like Coco and Serve partner with restaurants as a courier service to deliver food orders to customers using robots.
In November 2024, Coco was licensed by the Chicago Department of Business Affairs & Consumer Protection (BACP), with the terms jointly managed with the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT). Serve launched in September 2025. BACP & CDOT say the pilot program is designed to assess both the “benefits and risks.”
The city’s pilot program allowing the robots is set to expire in May 2027 unless the City Council votes to end it sooner or extends it further. Robertson said he hopes city leaders consider concerns, including privacy, when constructing a path forward for delivery robots.
“I think it’s prudent that we’re now talking about this issue about the robots’ effect on privacy and the risks that might come with their presence in our neighborhoods,” he said.
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