A robot is only cheap if it runs full. What utilization robots reach, how peaks and idle hours shape fleets and repeat orders, what buyers and operators say, and where demand is missing, with a source for every fact.
A robot is only cheap if it runs full. The regulator data say how far from full even the leaders are: in the month-level files Waymo filed with the California Public Utilities Commission, the share of its driverless deployment miles driven with no passenger on board (driving between trips plus driving to a pickup) was 46.4% from August 2023 to December 2025, 45.1% in 2025 and 41.1% in April to June 2026 (the map's computation from the files on the CPUC quarterly reporting page), against "almost 38.5 percent" for human ride-hail drivers in California in 2018 (CARB, Dec 2019). Serve Robotics had more than 2,000 sidewalk robots deployed but 792 daily active robots in the second quarter of 2026, and cut its revenue guidance because of lower Uber Eats volume (Serve Q2 2026 release, SEC). Warehouse operators answer the same problem with flexible fleets: Radial ran 87 robots every day and added 104 for peak (Locus Robotics, 13 Jan 2026).
What utilization do robots actually reach?
Sidewalk delivery: Serve reports 792 daily active robots (robots "performing deliveries", averaged over the quarter) and 9,809 daily supply hours in the second quarter of 2026, down from 812 and 10,295 in the first quarter, while the company says it has deployed more than 2,000 robots (Serve Q2 2026 release, SEC, 6 Aug 2026). The map's reading: that is roughly 4 in 10 deployed robots working on an average day, with about 12 hours of availability per active robot; Serve does not publish busy hours or deliveries per robot.
Humanoids: Figure's robots at BMW Spartanburg ran on "a 10-hour shift schedule, Monday to Friday", reached full shifts by month ten of eleven, and logged more than 1,250 hours of runtime in total, with the forearm as the main failure point (company figures, Interesting Engineering, 20 Nov 2025).
Warehouse picking robots: DHL Supply Chain runs nearly 2,000 assisted picking robots across more than 50 sites and raised robot utilization by more than 30% in the 2021 peak (DHL's own figures, Tim Dolcich, Logistics Management, 25 Jul 2022).
How empty does a robotaxi drive?
California requires robotaxi operators to report vehicle miles in three periods: Period 1 (no passenger and not on the way to one), Period 2 (from accepting a trip to the pickup) and Period 3 (passenger on board) (CPUC quarterly reporting).
Waymo's driverless deployment, Periods 1 and 2 as a share of all miles (the map's computation from the CPUC month-level files): 50.7% in 2024; 45.1% in 2025 (31.5% Period 1, 13.5% Period 2, of 66.7 million miles); 46.4% over August 2023 to December 2025; 42.0% in January to June 2026 and 41.1% in April to June 2026 (CPUC quarterly reporting).
Cruise, over its 18 months of deployment data in 2022 and 2023, drove 66.8% of its miles without a passenger (same files, the map's computation).
Why does utilization, not capability, decide whether customers buy again?
Serve said it does not plan to renew its Uber Eats agreement, citing declining order volumes (Reuters via BusinessDay, 17 Aug 2026); its revised 2026 guidance reflects "lower than expected delivery volume through the Company’s Uber Eats partnership" (Serve Q2 2026 release, SEC).
Starship will "wind down its U.S. university campus operations" and move more than 1,200 robots to grocery delivery, where it says it delivers at a cost $3 to $4 lower than a courier (Starship, 4 Jun 2026).
A hospital chemotherapy robot cost THB 538 per dose at 4,173 doses against THB 250 for manual preparation; break-even was 41,802 doses, and serving a second hospital raised the benefit-cost ratio from 1.566 to 3.018 (Lukanawonakul et al., BMC Health Services Research, 30 Jul 2025).
Who carries the idle cost: robots as a service or purchase?
The International Federation of Robotics reports that "more-and-more companies are deciding to enter into subscription or rental agreements rather than purchasing robots outright"; the RaaS fleet grew 31%, and RaaS in transport and logistics grew 42% in 2024 (IFR, 7 Oct 2025).
RobCo prices "at roughly the cost of a single worker, single shift per month", from a couple of thousand to $10,000 a month (The Robot Report, 2 Feb 2026).
Formic's CEO writes that buying pays for "highly customized systems that they intend to use for 10 years or more", and that a down robot cell "can cost manufacturers upwards of $50,000 per day" (Formic, 26 Apr 2021).
How do peaks shape fleet size and economics?
Amazon planned to hire 250,000 people for the 2025 holiday season, while retailers overall were expected to add "fewer than 500,000 seasonal jobs this year, the lowest number in 16 years" (PYMNTS, 13 Oct 2025).
Radial ran 87 robots for daily operations and added 104 for peak; Locus says RaaS lets it "flex capacity in real time, adding or removing cobots to match live order flow" (Locus Robotics, 13 Jan 2026).
At DHL's Carhartt site in Ohio, about 50 robots became about 82 for peak and went back to about 50 afterwards; DHL writes that it is "not about eliminating workers, but rather reducing the number of short-term positions" (Logistics Management, 25 Jul 2022).
Can one robot fill its day with several jobs?
Serve now reports revenue from delivery, branding and software, added a laundry delivery partner next to food, healthcare and grocery, and acquired Diligent Robotics, whose robots work inside hospitals (Serve Q2 2026 release, SEC).
Starship is moving campus robots, whose demand follows the academic year, to grocery and hot food (Starship, 4 Jun 2026).
Sharing one robot across sites pays: adding a network hospital's volume roughly doubled the benefit-cost ratio of a chemotherapy robot (BMC Health Services Research, 30 Jul 2025).
What do buyers and operators say, as opposed to builders?
Operators who publish signed pieces mostly write about sizing, peaks and contracts, not capability: Choi on idle risk (SupplyChainBrain, 28 Aug 2024), Dolcich on peak flexibility (Logistics Management, 25 Jul 2022), Shafer on simulation and demand-scaled contracts (GXO).
Hospital operators publish economics in peer-reviewed journals: trip counts and a 10-year saving of RMB 6.928 million for a 10-robot fleet (Scientific Reports, 24 Apr 2026), and break-even volumes for a compounding robot (BMC Health Services Research, 30 Jul 2025).
DHL's robot operator writes that robots "have become a valuable component of our peak season strategy" (Logistics Management, 25 Jul 2022).
Where is B2B and industrial delivery, and why is it behind consumer delivery?
Middle-mile B2B freight is the most advanced case: Gatik completed 85,000 fully driverless orders at 99% on time, runs driverless in Dallas-Fort Worth, Phoenix and Northwest Arkansas, and "does not do long-haul, robotaxis or sidewalk delivery" (TNW, 26 Aug 2026).
Hospital logistics is the most measured indoor B2B case: the 10-robot fleet study above (Scientific Reports, 24 Apr 2026), and Serve's purchase of Diligent Robotics, whose hospital customers signed seven multiyear extensions in the first half of 2026 (company figures, Serve Q2 2026 release, SEC).
Drone delivery serves hospitals as well as homes; Manna reports more than 370,000 deliveries since 2018 with average flights under three minutes (company claims, Manna).