Uber has sold its entire stake in Serve Robotics, the autonomous sidewalk delivery robot company that spun out of Postmates X more than five years ago. The divestiture was disclosed in a regulatory filing first reported by Bloomberg.
Regulatory documents indicate Uber began reducing its ownership in 2025, but Serve learned of the final sale only after the disclosure, according to a person familiar with the events. Uber did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Background and the partnership
Serve Robotics originated as Postmates X, the robotics division of Postmates, after Uber acquired Postmates in 2020 for $2.65 billion. In 2021 the unit was spun out as Serve Robotics, named after the autonomous sidewalk delivery robot developed and piloted by Postmates X.
Uber both backed Serve financially and entered into a partnership with the startup in 2022 to integrate the sidewalk robots into its services. That agreement was expanded in May 2023 to allow deployment of up to 2,000 Serve robots on the Uber app across multiple U.S. markets.
Diverging business views and signs of pullback
The two companies have grown apart on business strategy. Serve Robotics co-founder and CEO Ali Kashani said on the company’s August 6 second-quarter earnings call that the firms hold “differing views” on the operating model to scale a shared autonomous fleet, including areas such as fleet coordination and merchant integration.
Kashani noted that from Q1 2022 through Q1 2026, delivery volume through Uber grew for 17 consecutive quarters, but that trend reversed in Q2 2026, which he attributed to lower-than-expected robot utilization. He also said that deliveries with another food-delivery partner grew nearly 50% in a single quarter during the same period.
Based on these developments, Kashani said Serve did not expect it would be sensible to renew the partnership agreement with Uber when it expires in early 2027.
Implications
Serve Robotics is one of more than 30 autonomous vehicle technology companies Uber has partnered with or invested in over recent years. Uber’s exit, together with its earlier stake reductions, underscores a strategic divergence between the two firms and could affect the pace and scope of sidewalk-robot deployments and their integration into the Uber app.
Further details and any next steps may be disclosed by the parties in time.
