Serve Robotics deploys DriveU.auto connectivity platform in robotic delivery fleet

Serve Robotics Inc. is teaming up with DriveU.auto to deploy the company’s connectivity platform into Serve’s commercially deployed robotic fleet. The platform will enhance its ability to monitor its autonomous delivery robots remotely, said Serve Robotics. 

DriveU.auto’s platform will add to the suite of tools that the delivery robot company is using as it deploys up to 2,000 systems on the Uber Eats platform. 

“In order to rapidly scale to thousands of robots, Serve needs to leverage the capabilities of world-class technology partners like DriveU.auto,” stated Dmitry Demeshchuk, co-founder and vice president of software engineering at Serve. “DriveU’s connectivity platform will help us improve the resilience and performance of our fleet, unlock operational efficiencies, and realize economies of scale as we pursue mass-market autonomous delivery.”

DriveU.auto has developed and deployed a software-based connectivity platform for the teleoperation of robots and autonomous vehicles. The Tel Aviv, Israel-based company claimed that its system enables remote driving (direct drive) or high-level commands (remote assistance) at very low latency and high reliability.

DriveU.auto’s system is based on its proprietary cellular bonding and dynamic video encoding technologies. It said its customers and partners include autonomous vehicle developers, including cars, trucks, and shuttles, makers of delivery robots, OEMs, and Tier 1 automotive suppliers. They have used the company’s platform on the roads in the EU, U.S., China, Japan, and Israel.

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Why Serve picked the DriveU.auto platform

Serve said it evaluated DriveU.auto alongside other competitive offerings. It landed on DriveU.auto’s platform because of its reliable, low latent, and uninterrupted connectivity. The company says this allows robots to share real-time telematics, access cloud computing, and enable remote supervision in edge cases. 

“We are thankful for the opportunity to engage as a trusted partner with Serve Robotics,” Alon Podhurst, CEO of DriveU.auto, said. “DriveU.auto is committed to enabling the large-scale rollout of driverless fleets safely and efficiently. Connectivity is a critical element in every driverless vehicle. Our expanding roster of commercial partnerships is a testament to DriveU’s leading position in enabling AV operations.

DriveU.auto also provides native support of the NVIDIA Jetson platform, which provides hardware-accelerated video encoding and decoding, reduces network bandwidth and latency, and results in better video quality. This was an added value for Serve. 

In April of this year, Redwood City, Calif-based Serve Robotics went public on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol “SERV.” The company said it expected its initial public offering of 10 million shares of common stock to generate $40 million in gross proceeds, before underwriting discounts and offering expenses. 

Serve Robotics builds and maintains its fleet of robots for customers as a robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) business. In 2021, Serve spun out of Uber, and it has maintained an operating contract with Uber Eats for local delivery in select locations.  Other big customers have included Walmart and 7-Eleven.

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