DoorDash said it’s only received ‘several hundred’ orders from AI agents

Reality Check for Agent-Driven Commerce

The notion that AI agents are rapidly taking over e-commerce has been met with a dose of reality from DoorDash. During its third-quarter earnings call, the delivery giant revealed it has processed only “several hundred” orders originating from third-party agents like Muse, Instinct, and Fo. This figure stands in stark contrast to the company's average of 3 million daily deliveries, illustrating that while the technology is emerging, its current market penetration in the food delivery sector remains negligible.

A Cautious but Proactive Stance

DoorDash CEO Tony Xu acknowledged the potential of the technology, stating, “you never want to fight gravity,” but cautioned against being “delusional” about its current capabilities. While observing that users still overwhelmingly prefer the native DoorDash app, the company is actively exploring the agentic ecosystem. It aims to foster relationships with third-party agent developers and is simultaneously building its own suite of AI-powered ordering tools to better understand use cases. These internal efforts include:

• An 'Ask DoorDash' chatbot that accepts orders via prompts and photos.
• A text-to-order agent launched in September.
• A command-line interface (CLI) agent for developers.
• An MCP to enable corporate ordering from other chatbots.

Ecosystem Divided on Agent Access

The lukewarm adoption numbers arrive as the broader commerce industry remains divided on how to handle autonomous agents. While some, like Amazon, have actively blocked personal agents from accessing their platforms, others see an opportunity. Walmart, for instance, has welcomed them in a bid to capture business from competitors. For its part, DoorDash is keeping its options open, with Xu noting a future opportunity to advertise within these new agent-based interfaces. This strategic division highlights the uncertainty and varying bets companies are placing on how quickly—or if—consumers will shift to agent-driven purchasing.

The minimal order volume from AI agents on DoorDash demonstrates that agentic commerce is still in its infancy, forcing major platforms to balance the narrative of long-term technological inevitability with the reality of near-term user behavior and unproven monetization strategies.