On the heels of Uber Technologies selling its full stake in Serve Robotics, the California-based autonomous delivery company entered a partnership with Grubhub’s parent company, Wonder, which sees the collaboration as a means to bring delivery robots to Chicago, Los Angeles and Alexandria, Virginia.
Following roughly five years of providing autonomous delivery services for Uber Eats, Uber disclosed it sold its shares in Serve Robotics in early August, shortly after Serve co-founder and CEO Ali Kashani revealed during a Q2 2026 earnings call that the companies held “differing views” on operating models to scale the shared autonomous fleet.
During that call, Kashani said Serve’s delivery volume through Uber grew for 17 consecutive quarters between early 2022 and Q2 of this year. During the latest quarter, however, that trend reversed for the first time, prompting his concerns.
“This was caused by lower-than-expected robot utilization,” Kashani said of the trend reversal during the August 6 Q2 earnings report. “While customer and merchant demand has remained steady and our fleet performance has been improving, we believe the reversal in Q2 was largely due to the changes in their operating model and the integration between the two companies.”
Wonder announced its partnership with Serve Robotics August 17, marking its first collaboration with the autonomous delivery firm. The move brings autonomous delivery to Grubhub customers in the aforementioned markets (initially starting with more than 100 participating merchants in Chicago and nearly 200 in Los Angeles), with plans to expand to additional communities.
“A year ago, our robots were delivering dinner in a handful of neighborhoods,” Kashani said in an August 17 press release. “Today, they serve three of the country’s largest delivery platforms, they’re rolling into new cities from San Jose to the nation’s capital, and their hospital cousins are showing up in health systems across the country. Welcoming Wonder and Grubhub to our network is the clearest signal yet of where we are headed. Every new partner puts more robots to work, and every delivery makes the whole fleet smarter.”
The collaboration expands Wonder’s list of autonomous delivery partners, which already includes drone deliveries through the drone platform Zipline in Texas and a pilot program with delivery robot company Avride, among several others.
“At Wonder, we’re constantly looking for ways to make the customer experience more convenient and reliable,” PJ Poykayil, Wonder’s executive vice president of customer delivery operations, said in a press release. “Our partnership with Serve brings autonomous delivery to Grubhub customers in Chicago, Los Angeles and Alexandria while also enabling robot delivery from our Potomac Yard location in Alexandria. As we continue to grow, partnerships like this help us expand delivery options, improve efficiency and create a more seamless mealtime experience.”
During the Q2 earnings call, Serve revised its 2026 revenue guidance to a range of $9 million to $10 million, down from $26 million, reflecting lower-than-expected delivery volume from the Uber Eats partnership.
