Operations Associate

Serve Robotics to deploy its autonomous delivery robots with Grubhub. 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." Serve unveils its first microdepot and countertop products. 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. The company said it designed Beacon to extend robot delivery to restaurants whose back-of-house setups previously could not support it and speed up pickup for Serve's current restaurant partners. Serve is also launching its latest advertising product called "Characters." Advertisers have long been able to wrap Serve robots in custom designs. With Characters, brands can now build a character that customers can talk with in real time, powered by a curated conversational AI model, in experiences developed together by Serve and the advertiser. Serve and Grubhub launched the first Character, Chomp, a hamburger-wrapped robot who treats every delivery like a very important mission. Chomp will appear across social media and select customer experiences with Grubhub gift cards and swag. Inside Serve's latest financial results. Serve recently shared its financial results for Q2 of 2026. The company brought in $3.2 million in Q2, a 9% increase from Q1 and a 404% year-over-year increase. Serve said revenue from its DoorDash partnership grew nearly 50% sequentially, exceeding its expectations. Overall, advertising made up nearly 50% of food delivery revenue in Q2, and recurring revenue made up over 50% of total revenues in Q2. Despite the company's growth, it has hit a roadblock in its partnership with Uber. Serve originally started as a division of Uber, and spun off into its own company in 2021. However, the company had experienced lower than expected delivery volume through Uber. Last week, Bloomberg reported that Uber sold off its remaining stake in Serve. The company's exit from Serve had been in the works for at least a year, according to Uber's regulatory filings. Serve also gave an update on Diligent Robotics, which it acquired earlier this year. Diligent released Moxie 2.0, the upgraded version of its hospital delivery robot.

Serve Robotics reported 400% year-over-year revenue growth in the second quarter ended 30 June, but its stock plunged around 15% after management significantly lowered its 2026 revenue forecast. The stock is now down almost 80% from its 2024 peak. The company has deployed over 2,000 Gen 3 robots across America, delivering through platforms like DoorDash and Uber Eats. Its Nvidia-powered robots achieve a 99.8% order completion rate in at least eight major US cities. Serve believes it can reduce delivery costs from $8–10 per order to just $1 using its robots. The company expanded beyond food delivery through its January acquisition of Diligent, whose Moxi robots transport medical supplies in hospitals across 44 US cities.

Serve Robotics partners with Grubhub after Uber exit. Aug. 17, 2026 Updated 8:33 PM PT See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search. Set Los Angeles Times as preferred Consumers from the Los Angeles region who order through Grubhub will soon have some of their orders delivered by four-wheeled robots. Serve Robotics, which operates 500 robots across 40 neighborhoods in Los Angeles, has partnered with food marketplace Grubhub. Through this partnership, robot delivery is now available to nearly 200 local restaurants, including Sushi Q, the Indian Kitchen and Mel & Rose. The tie-up will also launch Serve's robots in 100 Chicago restaurants and some in Virginia. The new marketplace announcement comes after Uber sold its stake in Serve. Serve was founded in 2017 as a division of Postmates and was spun out as an independent company after Uber acquired Postmates. Serve Robotics went public in 2024, with Uber as one of its backers, and has been delivering for restaurants on the Uber Eats platform. There has recently been a drop in delivery volume and disagreements over how to best utilize the robots. Uber sold its stake in Serve this year. Ali Kashani, CEO of Serve Robotics, said in an earnings call that the blowup was "caused by changes in the operating model and integration of our fleet." The quarterly delivery volumes from Uber Eats declined for the first time since 2022, prompting the company to reduce its expected 2026 revenue guidance from $26 million to $9 million to $10 million. Kashani said demand for robot delivery isn't slowing down, and the decline in revenue was due to Serve's disagreement with Uber. A Serve Robotics spokesperson said that users in the 40 L.A. neighborhoods the company currently operates in will remain unaffected, as the food delivery contract with Uber doesn't expire until early 2027. The deal with Grubhub is part of Serve's move to expand to new marketplaces. The company has also expanded to two new markets on DoorDash, San Jose and Washington. Serve earns revenue from three streams: delivery, advertising and hospital robotics. It began rolling out its hospital robot, Moxi 2.0, at healthcare systems including Providence Saint John's Health Center in Los Angeles, Children's Hospital Los Angeles and Endeavor Health Edward Hospital in the Chicago area. Serve also said it is introducing a "micro depot" model as part of its Miami rollout, where instead of large warehouses that it operates, it will use established parking facilities for dispatch and maintenance, allowing it to operate cheaply. More to read. Inside the business of entertainment. The Wide Shot brings you news, analysis and insights on everything from streaming wars to production - and what it all means for the future. By continuing, you agree to its Terms of Service, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that Los Angeles Times and its third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in its Privacy Policy such as personalizing your experience and ads. Nilesh Christopher is a technology reporter for the Los Angeles Times, focusing on how artificial intelligence empowers, harms and reshapes communities. He is currently supported by the Tarbell Center for AI Journalism.