Two Chicago Class Actions Accuse Delivery Robots of Biometric Privacy Violations

In some Chicago neighborhoods, food delivery robots have become a common sight, wobbling along sidewalks with takeout orders. But two recently filed class-action lawsuits claim those robots were also collecting information about the people they passed.

Last week, complaints against Coco and Serve alleged the firms scanned customers' faces and hands without consent. The suits say the companies used that biometric data to train their AI models and shared it with third parties.

Filed in Chicago, the cases invoke Illinois' biometric privacy protections, which require notice and consent before collecting identifiers like face or hand geometry. The lawsuits seek class status and claim the practices violated privacy rights.

Coco Robotics and Serve have both denied the allegations, saying they do not collect or misuse biometric data. The dispute highlights growing scrutiny of embodied AI systems that operate in public spaces and handle sensitive personal information. If the claims proceed, they could shape how delivery robot firms design data collection and obtain consent in the United States.