Serve Robotics (SERV.US) secures two major food delivery order channels after parting ways with Uber (UBER.US)! Commercialization of delivery robots expected to accelerate

According to Zhihu Finance APP, artificial intelligence (AI) robotics company Serve Robotics (SERV.US) has announced a new partnership with the U.S.-based online food delivery platform Grubhub, while also expanding its existing collaboration with the largest food delivery app in the U.S., DoorDash (DASH.US), to two additional cities in the United States. This marks the company's latest move after the breakdown of its relationship with former investor Uber (UBER.US). As of press time, Serve Robotics shares rose over 5% in pre-market U.S. trading on Monday.

Serve Robotics stated in a press release on Monday that its delivery robots will be processing DoorDash orders in Washington State and San Jose, California. Serve Robotics is already cooperating with DoorDash to provide services in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Miami. The robotics developer also announced a new partnership with Wonder Group and its subsidiary Grubhub to offer autonomous delivery services in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Alexandria, Virginia.

As Serve Robotics gradually ends its cooperation with Uber, operator of the second largest food delivery app in the U.S., these expanding partnerships bring new development opportunities for Serve Robotics. Two weeks ago, the company's co-founder and CEO Ali Kashani stated on an earnings call that they intend not to renew their delivery contract with Uber when it expires in early 2027. This month, Uber disclosed that it exited its long-term investment in Serve Robotics during the second quarter, due to major disagreements regarding the deployment of the delivery robots between the two parties.

In an interview before the announcement, Ali Kashani said that the expanded partnership with DoorDash, as well as new order growth from Wonder Group and Grubhub, would allow Serve Robotics to put more of its roughly 2,000 robots into daily operation. In the second quarter, due to low robot utilization, Serve Robotics operated an average active fleet of just 792 robots per day. Serve Robotics had previously cited poor utilization rates as one of the reasons for parting ways with Uber.

DoorDash leads Uber Eats and Grubhub in U.S. food delivery market share

In addition, Serve Robotics has announced the launch of a new device called Beacon, equipped with a modem, which will be provided free of charge to restaurants. The device is designed to notify restaurant staff when one of the robots has arrived and to indicate which robot should pick up which food delivery order.

Ali Kashani said that Beacon will help Serve Robotics establish a direct connection with restaurants, bypassing what he describes as the "fragmented" ecosystem of third-party software. This third-party software includes point-of-sale systems (POS) or delivery platforms, and it is not clear whether these systems have already integrated automated delivery alerts for restaurant operators.

As part of Monday's series of announcements, Serve Robotics also stated that it will start renting spaces at busy locations to store batches of delivery robots, allowing them to reach nearby restaurants more quickly instead of all robots departing from central maintenance facilities that may be far from popular eateries. The first "micro-warehouses" will be put into operation in Miami. These small operational sites can handle robot charging, scheduling, and maintenance.

Serve Robotics stated in the press release: “Micro-warehouses require very little infrastructure and can be established quickly in communities with high demand, providing Serve with a repeatable model that enables the company to enter new communities and cities faster and at lower cost.”