Where the sidewalk ends…and AI begins: Serve Robotics acquires Vayu to boost last-mile delivery

Serve Robotics has acquired Vayu Robotics to enhance its autonomous sidewalk delivery capabilities through advanced AI foundation models and simulation technology. The acquisition combines Serve’s real-world operational experience and sidewalk dataset with Vayu’s expertise in AI modeling and scalable simulation-powered data engines, positioning the company to accelerate deployment of delivery robots nationwide while working toward its goal of reducing delivery costs to $1.

What you should know: The acquisition strengthens Serve’s position in autonomous delivery by merging complementary technologies and expertise.

• Serve brings proven operational depth with an established autonomy stack and extensive real-world sidewalk navigation data collected from current deployments.
• Vayu contributes AI foundation model technology and a simulation-powered data engine that can generate training scenarios at scale.
• The combination enables training more capable navigation models through fusion of real and simulated data, unlocking safer and more generalizable autonomous behavior.

Why this matters: Industry predictions point toward rapid robot adoption, and this acquisition positions Serve to lead wide-scale deployment across new geographies and use cases.

• “Autonomy is critical to our long-term goal of bringing delivery costs down to $1, and these new capabilities will help us move faster,” said Dr. Ali Kashani, CEO and co-founder of Serve Robotics.
• The enhanced AI capabilities should enable faster, safer, and more cost-effective delivery operations as the company scales nationally.

What they’re saying: Leadership from both companies and investors emphasized the strategic value of combining operational experience with advanced AI technology.

• “We are thrilled to join the Serve team and apply our AI foundation model technology, talent and expertise to accelerating the development of their autonomous delivery platform,” said Anand Gopalan, CEO of Vayu Robotics.
• “Serve is differentiated by unmatched operational depth, a proven ability to deploy robots at scale, and a relentless focus on driving down cost per delivery through autonomy,” Gopalan added.
• Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures, noted that “AI models are driving a new class of robotics across a range of industries” and highlighted last-mile delivery as an application where autonomous robots “could create immense value.”

The big picture: This acquisition reflects the broader trend of robotics companies leveraging AI foundation models and simulation technology to accelerate autonomous system development and deployment at scale.