Serve Robotics Adds Grubhub as Delivery Partner, Expands to Two More Cities

Serve Robotics announced that Grubhub will join its autonomous delivery network, enabling robot delivery to over 100 merchants in Chicago, nearly 200 in Los Angeles, and extending to Alexandria, Virginia, including Wonder's Alexandria location. Grubhub is a subsidiary of Wonder, and this partnership allows Serve's existing robot fleet to handle orders from Grubhub.

Meanwhile, through its partnership with DoorDash, Serve launched sidewalk delivery in Washington D.C. and San Jose, with San Jose being its first Bay Area market, where robots have completed their first month of deliveries; Washington D.C. plans to operate in Dupont Circle and parts of downtown, with Takin' Tacos among the first partner restaurants. This expands Serve's network to eight major U.S. markets.

Notably, the report mentions that Uber Eats has sold its remaining stake in Serve, and the partnership will end when the contract expires next year. This background may affect Serve's future partner landscape, but the specific impact is unclear.

To support rapid expansion, Serve introduced smaller operational facilities called micro-depots, with the first planned in Miami. These facilities are used for robot parking, charging, dispatching, and maintenance, eliminating the need for large operations centers. Serve states that the smaller footprint allows them to increase coverage in communities at lower cost and faster speed.

Diligent Robotics, acquired by Serve earlier this year, has begun deploying the upgraded Moxi 2.0 hospital robot to healthcare facilities nationwide, with initial deployments at Endeavor Health Edward Hospital, Providence Saint John's Health Center, and Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

Serve reports several improvements: 15x faster perception processing, 10x more onboard compute, 18-hour battery life with 30% faster charging, upgraded sensors and storage hardware, enhanced navigation and decision-making, and a new world model trained on Moxi fleet experience. Previous Moxi robots have been deployed in over 25 U.S. hospitals.

Serve also previewed Beacon, a countertop device designed to help restaurants whose existing technology doesn't support robot pickup to participate in autonomous delivery. The device connects via cellular network and alerts staff when a robot arrives for pickup, requiring only a power connection, no extra tablets or kitchen system modifications.

On the advertising front, Serve introduced Characters, combining branded robot designs with conversational AI, allowing brands to create interactive characters for consumer engagement. The first case is a burger-themed robot named Chomp, created in partnership with Grubhub, to be used for social media and targeted customer promotions.