Chicago customers who received food or grocery orders from Coco or Serve delivery robots may be covered by proposed class actions alleging Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics captured their face and hand geometry without the notice and written consent Illinois law requires. No class has been certified and there is nothing to file yet.
Allegations Only · No Settlement Yet
This article describes class action complaints. The statements below are unproven allegations. Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics have not been found liable, there is no certified class, and nothing to claim at this time. This page is informational and is not legal advice.
What Is This About?
Two proposed class actions filed October 9, 2026 in Cook County, Illinois accuse the sidewalk delivery robot companies Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics of violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). The complaints allege the robots’ cameras and LiDAR sensors capture three-dimensional measurements of customers’ faces and hands when they walk up to unlock a delivery, without the written notice, written consent and published retention policy the law requires.Both companies deny collecting biometric data. The case numbers and plaintiffs’ law firms had not been reported as of October 19, 2026, and neither court has ruled on anything.
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What Do the Lawsuits Claim?
The complaint against Coco was brought by a Near North Side resident who ordered groceries through DoorDash in September 2025. He says he never chose robot delivery, but the order was assigned to a Coco robot and he had to stand close to it to enter a code and take his groceries. The complaint alleges the robot’s cameras recorded his face, head and hands, its LiDAR measured their geometry, and a remote operator watched the video in real time. It also alleges Coco keeps robot-collected data to train artificial intelligence and has shared it with OpenAI and other third parties.The complaint against Serve was brought by a Lincoln Park resident who says he has received three Serve deliveries, most recently on October 4, 2026, when an Uber Eats order he did not route to a robot was assigned to one. It alleges Serve keeps video and sensor data to train AI, pointing to Serve’s own disclosures about licensing video and LiDAR datasets to third parties.
Both complaints allege the biometric measurements are stored alongside customers’ names and addresses, linking them to identifiable people, and that the robots also scan the faces, hands and bodies of other people they pass on Chicago sidewalks. They seek statutory damages of $1,000 for each negligent violation and $5,000 for each intentional or reckless violation, an order requiring compliance with the law, and attorneys’ fees and costs.
What Do Coco and Serve Say?
Coco called the lawsuit meritless. "This lawsuit fundamentally misunderstands our technology," a company spokesperson told local reporters, adding that Coco has not collected biometric data in Chicago and so has never shared any with third parties. The company said the data it shares is navigational data used to make sidewalks safer, and that it does not share data from the beginning or end of delivery trips.Serve said it is aware of the complaint and will defend against it. A spokesperson said the robots use cameras and sensors to navigate, that Serve does not use that data to identify individuals, and that its systems are not designed to identify individuals or create biometric profiles.
Chicago’s Delivery Robot Pilot
The robots operate under Chicago’s Personal Delivery Device pilot program, introduced in 2022 and overseen by the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection and the Department of Transportation. Coco was licensed in November 2024 and Serve launched in September 2025. The pilot is set to expire in May 2027 unless the City Council extends or ends it. Some residents have pushed back: a petition asking the city to pause the program had more than 4,500 signatures, and the city added a 311 category for robot complaints.What Happens Next?
Both cases are at the complaint stage. The companies will respond in court, often first with a motion to dismiss, and a judge would later decide whether either case can proceed as a class action. There is no settlement, no fund and nothing to file. This page will add the case numbers and any rulings as they become available.Questions
Are DoorDash and Uber Eats defendants in the delivery robot lawsuits?
No. The named plaintiffs ordered through DoorDash and Uber Eats, and their orders were assigned to robots, but the reported defendants are Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics, the companies that run the robots.
What do Coco and Serve say about the delivery robot lawsuits?
Coco said the lawsuit misunderstands its technology, that it has not collected biometric data in Chicago, and that the data it shares is navigational data used to make sidewalks safer. Serve said it will defend against the complaint and that its systems are not designed to identify individuals or create biometric profiles.
Does the Illinois biometric privacy law apply to people who never ordered from a robot?
The complaints allege the robots also scan the faces, hands and bodies of pedestrians they pass on Chicago sidewalks. Whether any of that amounts to collecting biometric identifiers under the Illinois law is one of the questions the court would have to decide.
How long will delivery robots operate in Chicago?
Robots run under the city’s Personal Delivery Device pilot program, which is set to expire in May 2027 unless the City Council extends or ends it. The lawsuits do not ask the court to shut the program down.
Sources
- Lawsuits accuse Chicago delivery robot companies of collecting biometric data (Chicago Sun-Times, Oct. 16, 2026).
- Delivery Robots Accused Of Scanning Customers’ Faces, Sharing Biometric Data (Block Club Chicago, Oct. 16, 2026).
- Chicago lawsuits accuse robot delivery companies Coco and Serve of biometric privacy violations (CBS Chicago).
- Food delivery robot lawsuit Chicago (ABC7 Chicago).
