Uber and Serve Robotics at impasse as delivery alliance faces dissolution

Uber and Serve Robotics, the sidewalk delivery robot company it once incubated, are heading for a breakup. The two companies have reached an impasse over how to deploy Serve’s fleet of delivery bots, with the partnership agreement set to expire in early 2027 and Serve reportedly considering not renewing it. For Uber, this isn’t just losing a vendor. It’s a crack in the foundation of its autonomous delivery strategy, one the company has been building toward since it acquired Postmates for $2.65 billion back in 2020. From corporate offspring to estranged partner Serve Robotics exists because of Uber. The company spun out from Postmates after Uber’s acquisition, inheriting the delivery startup’s robotics ambitions and eventually going public through a reverse merger in 2023-2024. Uber retained an ownership stake ranging from 11% to 16% following that transaction, making it a significant institutional holder. The partnership was straightforward on paper: Serve would deploy up to 2,000 delivery robots on the Uber Eats platform, handling last-mile deliveries in urban areas. In practice, the relationship has gotten complicated. Eduardo Rojas, a former member of Uber’s Autonomous Mobility ...