DoorDash CEO Tony Xu: We need to know about every pothole and parking space to perfect our food delivery

  • DoorDash collects "hundreds of millions of data points," CEO Tony Xu said.
  • The food delivery service recently completed a $535 million funding round led by Japanese investment giant Softbank.
  • It provides the drivers and logistics needed for local restaurants to offer on-demand delivery.
DoorDash delivery person
DoorDash
DoorDash delivery person

To make food delivery more efficient, DoorDash needs to know about every pothole and parking space. And in order to pull off that feat, CEO Tony Xu has plenty of information at his finger tips.

"We collect hundreds of millions of data points," Xu told Fortt Knox for CNBC. "And we have to know about every pothole that may slow down traffic, every parking spot that may make a delivery take a little longer."

The food delivery service, which recently completed a $535 million funding round led by Japanese investment giant Softbank, provides the drivers and logistics needed for local restaurants to offer on-demand delivery.

The goal, Xu said, is to be "the last-mile logistics platform for every city."

DoorDash collects data on a restaurant by restaurant basis, Xu said, noting where the kitchen is, and how busy or slow the storefront may be at a particular time.

"All of that information now can be digitized for the first time really because of the power of mobile," Xu said. "DoorDash would not be here, and the technologies with regards to DoorDash and many other companies similar to DoorDash would not be possible without the power of a computer inside your pocket."

The company runs through a 57-item checklist when launching service in a new city, to collect as much data as possible, he said.

The launch team runs through questions of which restaurants to add, how many drivers do they need and in what vehicle types or zip codes.

DoorDash already operates in 600 cities but will expand to 1,600 this year, Xu said.

"Outside of New York City, 90 percent of restaurants still don't deliver," he said. "And so there's a long way to go before we're able to offer the convenience that New York has always seen."