Serve Robotics CEO Ali Kashani envisions autonomous delivery robots transforming urban logistics by optimizing the pickup and delivery of food and other products to lower the cost of last-mile delivery for businesses.
This year, it is planning to deploy 2,000 Uber Eats delivery robots — further expanding in Los Angeles and looking to deploy in Dallas and other cities. Serve was spun out of Uber a year ago, after Uber acquired Postmates in 2020. Serve had been part of Postmates. Last year, the company announced a partnership with Uber Eats and Shake Shack to deliver in Los Angeles.
Serve Robotics’ delivery bots currently traverse several Los Angeles neighborhoods, rolling on sidewalks to pick up food orders from 900 restaurants. They travel within a 2-mile radius — or up to 6 miles if handing off orders to a drone.
Last October, the company partnered with Wing, a drone delivery company, to create a robot-to-drone system for deliveries. Serve’s bot will pick up food at the restaurant curbside, deliver it to an “autoloader” for a drone that will fly the order to customers as far as 6 miles away — all within 30 minutes.
According to PayTechFocus Intelligence data, consumers most likely to try robotic delivery are millennials and Gen Zs and those earning more than $100,000 a year.
But Kashani sees the future of delivery bots handling more than food. “There are a lot of things you can deliver,” he told PayTechFocus. “Imagine medications, pharmacy [items], parcels, groceries.”
He also envisions offering “reverse logistics” services, using the delivery bots to return products for customers. Kashani added that delivery robots can be used for local commerce as well: They can pick up clothing or shoes from local stores and bring them to customers to try them on. Shoppers keep the ones they want while putting the others back in the bot to return.
“There’s a lot of other things we can do with these robots once they’re out there,” Kashani said. “They’re making the cost of last mile substantially lowered.”
“Last mile” refers to the most costly, final stretch of delivering to each customer’s home or business rather than a warehouse or distribution center.
Kashani said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has publicly disclosed that it costs less to use Serve’s delivery robots than its human couriers. However, each bot is only delivering one order at a time because the food needs to get to the customer quickly. But multiple orders are possible, he said.
Founded in 2017 as a unit within Postmates, Serve has since grown into the largest provider in its field. In April 2024, it went public on Nasdaq.
Serve’s delivery bots form an autonomous, connected logistics ecosystem on the sidewalks of Los Angeles. Each morning, the bots leave their city depots and position themselves near busy parts of town that are full of restaurants.
“The robots leave their home in the morning, they go to work, they stay out all day, and they come home at night,” Kashani said. “While they’re out, they can accept jobs from Uber or other partners when they’re available.”
When they get an order, the bots head for the restaurant, where a server puts the food in the bot. The robot then goes to the customer’s home or office to deliver the food. The average delivery time is 18 minutes.
Customers can track the robot’s journey on an app. They get a notification when the robot arrives and press a button to unlock the bot to get the food. “It’s really straightforward. You don’t need any onboarding,” Kashani said. “You can just walk to a robot and operate it.”
Beyond just convenience, robots provide a more reliable delivery experience than human couriers, making fewer errors and ensuring that food remains untouched from restaurant to doorstep, Kashani said.
Asked if anyone had ever tried to steal the robot, Kashani said it happened once but the bot got away. Two people picked up the robot and put it in their truck, but the bot jumped off and went back to its depot.
“I posted the video footage [on Twitter, now X] from the robot’s perspective” of an attempted kidnapping, Kashani added.
Serve Robotics said its delivery bots have achieved Level 4 autonomy. That means they can operate on their own — only in designated areas — without human assistance, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The levels range from zero (no autonomy) to 5 (full autonomy in all areas under all conditions).
The robotaxis of Google’s Waymo have reached Level 4. In contrast, Tesla’s Full Self Driving (FSD) feature sits at Level 2, where the system does provide assistance but the driver remains fully responsible for driving.
Both Serve and Waymo use LiDAR, a remote sensing technology whose laser pulses measure distances to create high-resolution, 3D maps of environments. Tesla opted for a cameras-and-neural networks system.
Kashani said the delivery robots are “safer” than vehicles because unlike cars, these don’t weigh 2 tons and don’t move at 30 to 60 miles per hour. The bots “have 3,000 times less kinetic energy than a car … so even if they come into contact with someone, the most likely scenario is [the people] keep walking.”
He said the bots also can stop at any time when they need help, such as when they encounter construction and seek new instructions on what to do. A Serve Robotics employee will remotely help them. Kashani added that for now, Serve does use people to ensure that the bots cross intersections safely.
While the bots will get more advanced over time, Kashani nevertheless believes that human workers will always be needed in the system. “I don’t think it’s ever going to be robots taking over the whole thing. It’s always going to be complementary” to human efforts, he said.
Meanwhile, as Serve scales, lower delivery costs will expand the market, leading to more jobs overall, Kashani said.
As the global transportation and logistics sectors navigate economic uncertainty, rising fuel costs and increasing regulatory pressures, fleet managers are reevaluating their operational strategies.
The focus is shifting toward efficiency and cost savings, making payment and expense management a critical component of modern fleet operations. That was what Corpay executives told investors on Wednesday’s (Feb. 5) fourth quarter 2024 earnings call. And it’s good news for them.
“The only thing that has changed since our last call is that the macro has gotten a lot worse … our core businesses have remained just as strong,” CEO Ron Clarke said.
Still, a combination of FX headwinds and a weaker international currency environment clipped around $20 million from print revenue, though a favorable tax rate provided a counterbalance, he added.
Despite external pressures, Corpay’s Q4 results showcased the company’s ability to maintain stability and even drive growth in turbulent conditions. For Q4 2024, Corpay reported revenues of $1.03 billion, a 10% increase year-over-year, with organic revenue growth reaching 12%. Adjusted net income rose 18% to $383 million, while adjusted EPS climbed 21% to $5.36.
Corpay’s Corporate Payments division was the standout performer, growing 26% in Q4 and 20% for the full year. This growth was fueled by strong demand for accounts payable (AP) automation and international payment solutions. The company secured a major enterprise AP client, marking its expansion beyond the mid-market segment into large-scale corporate accounts.
“We primarily compete with banks, which control over 90% of international payment flows,” Clarke said. “But our superior technology and proprietary network give us a strong edge in this market.”
Corpay remains active in M&A, with plans to further expand its corporate payments business. The integration of GPS Capital Markets and Paymerang is well underway, and both deals are expected to add $0.50 in cash EPS accretion in 2025.
Corpay’s Vehicle Payments segment showed mixed results, with Q4 organic revenue up 8%, improving from 4% in Q3. Growth was primarily driven by increased adoption of digital vehicle payment solutions in Brazil, where the company has been expanding aggressively. Insurance-related revenues in the region rose over 130%, and Corpay sold nearly 300,000 vehicle insurance policies in Q4 alone.
Read more: Corpay to Acquire Brazil-Based Gringo to Expand Vehicle Payments Business
The company also acquired Gringo, its second vehicle payments acquisition in Brazil, expanding into the car debts payment market.
“This gives us entry into a huge Brazil payments TAM, approximately three times the size of our toll TAM, and very early days in terms of penetration,” Clarke noted.
PayTechFocus Intelligence’s “How the World Does Digital” report surveyed 67,000 consumers across 11 different countries. It found that Brazil was far ahead of all of them — including the United States — in digital engagement. Drilling down into the results, in 2023, 66.8% of Brazilians used mobile banking apps on their phones at least once a month, and 46.8% used these apps at least weekly.
Corpay is also focusing on cross-border payments. Revenue for that segment jumped 20% year-over-year, driven by 43% sales growth in Q4. Corpay is aggressively expanding its cross-border solutions, leveraging a proprietary network that allows it to compete effectively with banks, which still control 90%+ of international payment flows.
Fluctuating fuel prices continue to be one of the most significant challenges for fleet operators. Companies are deploying fuel hedging strategies and data-driven purchasing decisions to mitigate volatility. Corpay offers solutions that provide detailed fuel pricing insights and analytics, enabling fleets to make smarter purchasing decisions and reduce overall fuel spend.
Ultimately, Corpay’s 2024 results highlight a company firing on all cylinders, with record adjusted earnings and a rapidly expanding corporate payments business. However, macroeconomic headwinds — particularly foreign exchange volatility — are expected to weigh on 2025 performance.