Uber has Atlanta’s autonomous ride-hailing and delivery market on lock

Uber Eats customers in Atlanta can now opt in to have their food delivered via sidewalk delivery robots, following partner Serve Robotics’s launch on Thursday. The move comes just two days after Uber and Waymo launched a commercial robotaxi service in the city. 

Serve, which spun out of Uber in 2021 before braving the public markets last year, is one of 18 autonomous vehicle companies that Uber has partnered with to get a first-mover advantage on the consumer-facing side of autonomy. The ride-hailing and delivery giant said it has an annual run rate of 1.5 million mobility and delivery AV trips on its network. 

Atlanta marks Serve’s fourth commercial city after launching in partnership with Uber in Los Angeles, Miami, and Dallas Forth Worth. Unlike many of its competitors that are scaling by entering college campuses, Serve is only launching in urban environments. CEO Ali Kashani has told TechCrunch that this is because sidewalks on city streets are a harder problem to solve with a greater opportunity for revenue.  

Serve didn’t share how many bots it deployed in Atlanta at launch, though the company expects to expand from roughly 100 bots in Los Angeles today to 2,000 across several U.S. cities by the end of 2025. 

A Serve spokesperson told TechCrunch that Uber Eats customers will be able to receive robot deliveries throughout metro Atlanta — from Midtown to Old Fourth Ward and Downtown Atlanta — with plans to expand the operating territory in the future. The service will be available from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., according to Uber.

Participating restaurants in Atlanta include Rreal Tacos, Ponko Chicken, and Shake Shack.