Serve Robotics Partners with Wing Aviation for Drone Delivery

(Reuters) – Serve Robotics, which delivers food for Uber (NYSE:UBER) Eats using sidewalk robots, has announced a partnership with Alphabet-owned Wing Aviation to use drones, thus extending its operational range to over six miles.

The pilot program, announced on Tuesday, will take place in Dallas, Texas, marking Serve’s entry into the drone delivery market. Under this partnership, Serve’s robots will pick up food from restaurants and transfer it to Wing drones for aerial delivery.

So far, Serve’s operations have primarily focused on Los Angeles, where it delivers food and groceries for convenience retailer 7-Eleven and Shake Shack (NYSE:SHAK), in addition to Uber Eats.

The multi-modal delivery system is expected to expand Serve’s reach, allowing for 30-minute autonomous delivery across the city, according to Serve’s CEO Ali Kashani.

Drones have been seen as the future of package and food delivery, but their adoption has been limited by the lack of urban takeoff and landing spaces. In contrast, sidewalk delivery robots can navigate urban environments, offering a more practical solution.

Through this pilot partnership, Wing aims to reach more merchants in congested areas while assisting Serve in expanding its delivery radius, said Wing CEO Adam Woodworth.

Serve was spun off from Postmates in 2021, following its acquisition by Uber. The company noted that merchants would not need to change their workflows or facilities to accommodate the robot-to-drone delivery system.

The Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) division, which started as a project within Google X, has completed over 400,000 commercial deliveries across three continents, Woodworth added.