Serve Robotics to deploy its autonomous delivery robots with Grubhub

Robotics to deploy its autonomous delivery robots with Grubhub">

A Serve sidewalk robot making a delivery in Chicago. | Source: Serve Robotics

Serve Robotics Inc., a developer of sidewalk delivery robots, this week announced a partnership with Grubhub, a subsidiary of Wonder. Serve will now be offering robotic deliveries on the Grubhub marketplace starting in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Alexandria, Va.

The company ‘s services will be available from more than 100 participating Grubhub merchants in Chicago and nearly 200 in Los Angeles, with additional restaurants expected to join the program over time. As part of the Grubhub partnership, Wonder’s Alexandria location will offer delivery robots through Serve’s autonomous network.

In addition to the new partnership, Serve has also launched in two new markets, Washington, D.C., and San Jose, Calif., both in partnership with DoorDash. In San Jose, Serve’s first Bay Area market, robots have completed their first month of deliveries. In Washington, D.C., Serve robots will be delivering in Dupont Circle and parts of downtown.

“Not long ago, our robots were delivering dinner in a handful of neighborhoods. Today, they’re rolling into new cities from San Jose, California’s third largest city, to the nation’s capital. Their hospital cousins, our new Moxi robots, are showing up in health systems across the country,” said Ali Kashani, co-founder and CEO of Serve Robotics, referring to acquisition of Diligent Robotics .

“Welcoming Wonder and Grubhub to our network is the clearest signal yet of where we are headed,” he said. “Every new partner puts more robots to work, and every delivery makes the whole fleet smarter.”

As part of this continued expansion, Serve is launching its first microdepot in Miami. Serve said this is a innovative class of small-footprint operating sites that handle robot staging, charging, dispatch, and maintenance without the build-out time of a full-scale facility.

Microdepots require minimal infrastructure and can be stood up rapidly in high-demand neighborhoods, which Serve said provides a repeatable model for entering new neighborhoods and cities faster and at lower cost.

Serve also previewed Beacon, a standalone countertop product that will connect restaurants, customers, and Serve robots. With its built-in cellular, Beacon will alert staffers the moment a robot arrives for pickup and will require nothing from a restaurant beyond power—no tablet, no additional hardware, and no changes to existing systems.