Serve and Wing partner to test robot-to-drone food delivery

Autonomous street delivery provider Serve Robotics has partnered with on-demand drone delivery provider Wing Aviation to explore food transportation options that will “redefine last-mile delivery.” Together, the new partners will begin testing robot-to-drone delivery to customers within a few miles.

Serve Robotics ($SERV) is a developer of advanced, AI-powered curbside delivery robots that will spin off as an independent company from Uber in 2021. Its investors include NVIDIA, 7-Eleven, and Uber Eats, which formed a partnership with its former organization. to begin offering autonomous robotic delivery to select customers near Los Angeles.

As we reported in August, Serve extended its 2022 partnership with Uber Eats, signing an additional agreement with Shake Shack fast food to provide customers with selected robots, starting in Los Angeles.

Having your burger and pastries delivered by a roadside robot sounds pretty futuristic in itself, but Serve Robotics is taking mobile food delivery to new heights with the help of Wing Aviation to test robot-to-drone delivery. Be sure to check out the demo video below.

Deliveries of the robots by drone will begin in the coming months

Serve Robotics shared details of its new partnership with on-demand drone delivery provider Wing Aviation this morning. Together in the coming months, Serve and Wing plan to test a new autonomous food delivery solution that they say will redefine last-mile services. Serve Robotics CEO and founder, Dr. Ali Kashani, spoke in collaboration with Wing:

We are excited to partner with Wing to provide a multi-brand delivery experience that expands our market from nearly half of all food deliveries within 2 miles of a restaurant, to offering automated 30-minute delivery across the city. Together, Serve and Wing share a vision for reliable and cost-effective robotic delivery at a high level. Our end-to-end robotic delivery solution will be the most efficient mode of multi-delivery.

According to our partners, Wing deliveries will be able to be picked up by the Serve delivery robot on the curb or street in front of a participating restaurant, and automatically delivered to the nearby Wing drone AutoLoader (see images above) before being delivered by. in the air to customers 6 miles away.

Serve and Wing believes that robotic delivery to the drone will allow participating retailers to enter this novel service without any changes to their facilities or workflow while significantly expanding the boundaries of robotic delivery for street delivery. The partners say this unique partnership represents an important step in establishing automated delivery as the preferred transportation method for small packages around the world. Wing chief executive Adam Woodworth also spoke:

At Wing, we've been delivering food and other goods directly to consumers for over five years, completing more than 400,000 commercial deliveries across three continents. We have a proven ability to make deliveries quickly and efficiently. Both Wing and Serve offer innovative solutions that change the way goods are delivered. Through this pilot partnership, Wing hopes to reach more retailers in densely populated areas while supporting Serve as it works to expand its delivery area.

Serve and Wing highlighted the benefits of robotics-to-drone delivery, including sustainability as both technologies are 100% electric, speed as robots and drones navigate over gridlocks and roadways, respectively, avoiding traffic jams, and cost-effectiveness as there is. no need to tip the robot.

Driver delivery will begin in Dallas, Texas. Serve Robotics said details about the operating environment and fleet size will be shared at launch in the coming months.

Want to see how it works? Check out a demonstration video of the robot-to-drone technology below, and look out for this food delivery in the coming months. Maybe you should order a soda with your meal because it will probably be heavily shaken!