Robotics startup Starship Technologies Inc. has launched what it describes as the world’s first commercial pilot of an autonomous parcel delivery service.

The service, dubbed Packages, became available today in the southern English town of Milton Keynes and will roll out to San Francisco by year’s end. Deliveries will be carried out by a fleet of six-wheeled robots (pictured) that can each transport about 40 pounds in goods with a top speed of four miles per hour.

Starship, which was established in 2014 by Skype co-founders Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, has already had a chance to field-test the vehicles. The startup earlier this year launched a trial with Intuit Inc. to ferry items such as office supplies around the financial software giant’s corporate campus. Starship has also been testing robots in other locations and claims that its vehicles have collectively traveled more than 125,000 miles to date.

Each vehicle is equipped with an expansive array of sensors that allow it to travel alongside humans on sidewalks. Starship’s robots can maneuver around pedestrians while avoiding obstacles such as construction zones, read traffic lights and cross the street.

The new service makes the vehicles available to Milton Keynes residents for a monthly fee of £7.99, or $10.19, that includes unlimited deliveries. To access it, users have to download an app and direct packages they order online to Starship’s local sorting facility. They can then summon a robot to transport the parcel to their present location.

Starship’s fleet can reportedly deliver packages to locations within a two-mile radius of the facility, an area that the startup plans to expand over time. One of the main benefits that the service offers to users is the ability to have packages shipped not only to their homes but also to other locations.

“No more having to switch your working from home day, reschedule meetings, visit a locker, drive to a post office or contact a courier all because of a missed delivery,” Starship Chief Executive Officer Lex Bayer said in a statement. “Starship gets packages to consumers when and where they want them. This is the only service of its kind available in the world today, and it works around your lifestyle.”

Starship competes in a surprisingly crowded area. A number of other startups are working to build out their own robotic delivery fleets, while Google LLC and Amazon.com Inc. are active in this segment as well. The two tech giants are both pursuing initiatives that seek to harness drones to send packages by air.

Photo: Starship Technologies