Autonomous sidewalk robot specialist Serve Robotics has acquired Vayu Robotics. This move will accelerate and enhance the rollout of its delivery services. Robotics innovation is key to this advancement.
San Francisco-based Serve stated that the acquisition will strengthen its physical artificial intelligence capabilities. Vayu, based in Palo Alto, is a pioneer in urban robot navigation with its large-scale AI models, advancing robotics technology.
Serve’s delivery robots are increasingly prevalent in cities such as Los Angeles, Miami Beach, Dallas, and Atlanta. This acquisition will allow Serve to combine its autonomous robotics technology stack and sidewalk datasets. It will also merge with Vayu’s expertise in foundational AI models and its high-speed, scalable simulation data engine, furthering their robotics capabilities.
Serve claims that by fusing real and simulated data, it will be able to train more powerful models. This will enable “safer, faster, and more versatile navigation” and expand the applications of its robots, such as on bike lanes and shoulders.
This will accelerate expansion into new areas and attract more new customers. Furthermore, it will improve the speed, reliability, and safety of its technology in the field of robotics, allowing Serve to enhance its autonomous systems.
Key personnel from Vayu will also join Serve’s operations team.
“With this acquisition, Serve not only solidifies its leading position in existing robotic delivery operations. It also establishes a dominant position in shaping the future of robotics navigation,” said Dr. Ali Kashani, CEO of Serve.
“This move marks a significant step forward in Serve’s roadmap for large-scale deployment of autonomous sidewalk robots nationwide. It aligns with industry predictions of rapid robot adoption. Autonomy is critical to our long-term goal of reducing delivery costs to $1. These new capabilities will help us achieve that goal faster.”
“Serve’s unique strengths lie in its unparalleled operational depth and mature large-scale robot deployment capabilities. There is an unwavering commitment to continuously reducing the cost per delivery through autonomy,” said Anand Gopalan, CEO of Vayu. “Serve uniquely positions itself to lead the way in the future of last-mile robotics logistics.”
Serve aims to deploy more than 2,000 robots in the U.S. by the end of this year. It recently announced a further expansion of its partnership with Uber Eats in Los Angeles, where robots now also autonomously deliver Little Caesars pizzas. The third-generation robots utilize the Nvidia Edge Orin platform and feature Ouster’s REV7 digital LiDAR. The robotics-focused acquisition terms include an upfront payment of 1,696,069 shares of Serve common stock to Vayu shareholders. Additionally, there is a potential additional payment of 560,000 shares based on future milestones achieved in robotic automated delivery performance. The transaction also includes warrants issued to Vayu investor Khosla Ventures. This allows them to purchase 4,000,000 shares of Serve stock at a price of $10.36 per share.