Food delivery robots rolling along Chicago sidewalks are at the center of two lawsuits alleging the companies behind them are collecting customers’ biometric data without their consent.
The proposed class-action lawsuits, filed Oct. 9 in Cook County, accuse Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics of violating Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act by scanning customers’ faces and hands as they retrieve food orders, then retaining the data for artificial intelligence training and sharing it with third parties.
Both companies deny the allegations.
Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act, enacted in 2008, requires companies collecting biometric identifiers such as scans of face or hand geometry to provide written notice explaining the purpose and duration of collection and obtain written consent. The law also regulates how companies store and share the information.
The lawsuits center on two Chicago customers who say they were never told their biometric data was being collected. Mitchell Breidinger, a DoorDash customer, received a delivery from a Coco robot on Sept. 29, 2025, while Barry Schain, an Uber Eats customer, received three deliveries from Serve robots, most recently on Oct. 4, according to the filings.
The complaints allege the robots’ cameras and light detection and ranging, or LiDAR, sensors capture three-dimensional measurements of customers’ faces and hands when they approach the machines to unlock their compartments and retrieve their orders.
They also say the robots scan the faces, hands and bodies of other people they encounter on Chicago sidewalks.
The Coco complaint also alleges the company shares robot-collected data with OpenAI for artificial intelligence training. The complaint against Serve alleges the company licenses video and LiDAR data to third parties to train their own models.
Coco called the claims meritless, adding that privacy and compliance with privacy laws are a top priority for the company.
“This lawsuit fundamentally misunderstands our technology,” Carl Hansen, Coco’s head of government relations, said in a statement. “We have not collected biometric data in Chicago, and thus have never shared it with any third-parties, and are confident that this frivolous lawsuit will go away.”
A Serve Robotics spokesperson said the company would defend itself against the lawsuit, adding that its robots use cameras and sensors to navigate sidewalks safely.
“Serve does not use that data to identify individuals and our systems are not designed to identify individuals or create biometric profiles,” the spokesperson said.
The lawsuits seek statutory damages of $1,000 for each negligent violation of the biometric privacy act or $5,000 for each intentional or reckless violation, along with court orders requiring the companies to comply with the law and payment of attorney fees and costs.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
