LONDON – The London delivery apps Just Eat and Pronto employ rather quiet, yet competent delivery services: a small robot with six wheels, Bloomberg reports. Over in Dusseldorf, Germany, and Bern, Switzerland, Metro and Hermes also deploy robotic self-driving “vehicles.”

The robots are the creation of Starship Technologies, which has been testing the robots in a dozen countries since October. This week, the company started a trial run with real customers and real orders.

The trial will involve between five and 10 robots in a couple areas of each city. Starship plans to announce new customers, including some U.S. companies, soon, according to COO Allan Martinson. The robots zoom along sidewalks, not streets, to make their deliveries, which occur within a two- to three-mile radius of the store.

During the test phase, Starship operates the robots to monitor progress and provide navigation assistance if necessary. So far, the robots have come in contact with more than 400,000 people without a single incident. Ahti Heinla, CEO and chief technology officer for Starship, said that the pilot program is providing “know-how on running real robotic delivery services.”

“We are continuously looking for ways to use technology to make our customers’ lives easier," said David Buttress, CEO of Just Eat. “Starship is at the forefront of innovation in the delivery sector so it’s a natural fit for us to be partnering with them to bring delivery robots to our high streets.”