Nvidia invests $10 million in delivery robot startup Serve Robotics

Nvidia and Serve Robotics have established a strategic technology collaboration to further the development of autonomous robotic transportation, which includes a $10 million equity investment in the company.

Serve Robotics, which specializes in robotic delivery services and sidewalk delivery systems, says its strategic technology collaboration with Nvidia will further efforts in developing the future of autonomous robotic transportation.

As part of the collaboration, Nvidia will provide its Jetson edge AI computing platform to Serve Robotics, a well as its perception and mapping tools, and many other technologies.

This funding will accelerate Serve’s path to widespread commercial use, as well as support geographic expansion.

This is one of many recent advances Serve has made in the market, both in terms of technology and its business activities.

In January, Serve said it had become “the first autonomous vehicle company to complete commercial deliveries at Level 4 autonomy”.

Serve says this milestone means Serve Robotics’ latest generation of robots are able to operate routinely without human intervention, and can rely on their onboard capabilities to ensure safe operation.

This “industry first” is the result of nearly five years of work by the Serve Robotics team and represents a “major step forward for the autonomous vehicle industry, significantly lowering the barriers for autonomous delivery at scale”.

In the same month, Serve agreed a deal with Ouster, a provider of high-resolution digital lidar sensors, for OS digital lidar sensors through 2023, along with a non-binding forecast for additional sensors through 2025 as Serve Robotics scales its delivery fleets across US cities and beyond.