DALLAS — Sidewalk robots are set to help their drone counterparts with deliveries in Dallas as part of a new pilot partnership.
Serve Robotics, a spinoff from Uber that develops the automated four-wheel machines is partnering with Wing, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet that already provides drone delivery services in DFW.
As part of the partnership, in the coming months, select Wing deliveries will be picked up from restaurants curbside and delivered to a Wing drone AutoLoader for aerial delivery to customers up to 6 miles away, according to a press release.
"We're excited to partner with Wing to offer a multi-modal delivery experience that expands our market from roughly half of all food deliveries that are within 2 miles of a restaurant, to offering 30 minute autonomous delivery across an entire city," said Serve Robotics CEO and co-founder Dr. Ali Kashani in a statement. "Together, Serve and Wing share an ambitious vision for reliable and affordable robotic delivery at scale. Our end-to-end robotic delivery solution will be the most efficient mode for the significant majority of deliveries."
The partnership seeks to help move orders to a place drones can launch.
"Both Wing and Serve offer innovative solutions that are changing the way goods are delivered. Through this pilot partnership, Wing hopes to reach more merchants in highly-congested areas while supporting Serve as it works to expand its delivery radius,” said Wing CEO Adam Woodworth.
Serve operates its delivery service in Los Angeles. It spun off from Uber in 2021 as an independent company and has done deliveries for companies including Uber Eats and 7-Eleven.
Wing already has drone delivery services in North Texas in partnership with Walmart.
Sidewalk robots aren’t brand new to North Texas. The University of Texas at Dallas has allowed for the delivery of meals via robot.