Serve's robots reach Dallas-Fort Worth, while its cost of revenue runs four times its revenue

From the archive. First announced by Serve Robotics, April 2025. Where it stands now: Serve still listed Dallas among its markets, as of August 2026, Serve Robotics, Aug. 17, 2026. Whether its robots still carry Uber Eats orders in Dallas: Unknown. That month Serve cut its revenue guidance over lower Uber Eats volume, Serve Robotics, Aug. 6, 2026. Why I saved this: In one quarter, Serve's cost of revenue was $1.9 million against $440,465 in revenue. That ratio shows what early robot delivery costs.

Previously

In Part 1, Serve launched in Miami without saying how many robots it was running or what a delivery cost. Every street crossing needed a remote person's approval.

DALLAS, April 2025 — Serve Robotics has brought its delivery robots to Uptown Dallas. Here's what changed since Part 1 (February 2025), what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of May 8, 2025)

Coverage: Pearl, State Thomas, West Village and South Routh, reaching more than 22,000 new households. (The Robot Report)
Q1 2025 revenue: $440,465. Cost of revenues: $1,908,773. Net loss: $13,216,292. (Serve Q1 2025)
Fleet at work: 73 daily active robots on average in Q1, across all markets. (Serve Q1 2025)
Cash: $198 million at March 31, 2025. (Serve Q1 2025)

What's changed

Dallas is Serve's second new metro of 2025, after Miami. Uber Eats customers in four Uptown neighborhoods "may now receive their meals" by robot, Serve said. Ka Thai has opted in, and Serve's national deal with Shake Shack extends to Dallas.

"Our entry into the Dallas–Fort Worth market is an important step on our path to scaling as a national platform," said Ali Kashani, Serve's co-founder and CEO. Derek Ho, Ka Thai's general manager, said the robots let it reach "customers who we might not have been able to reach otherwise."

Serve said it chose the area for its "well-developed sidewalk infrastructure" and "history of welcoming innovation," and that the expansion would create operations and maintenance jobs. It didn't say how many. Its newest robots run on NVIDIA's Jetson Orin module, which The Robot Report said gives them five times more onboard computing power for navigation. In October 2024, Serve announced a partnership with Wing to pair its robots with drones for restaurant deliveries in North Texas, Dallas Innovates reported; the service was still to come.

The numbers behind the map

Serve's Q1 report shows the gap a national rollout has to close. Revenue rose 150% from the prior quarter to $440,465, but cost of revenues was $1,908,773, more than four times as much. Counting operating expenses, total costs and expenses came to about $15.4 million. The net loss was $13.2 million. Serve said it built more than 250 third-generation robots in the quarter and served over 320,000 households.

On average, 73 robots made deliveries each day. Serve's target is 2,000 by the end of 2025. It projected an annualized revenue run rate of $60 million to $80 million once that fleet reaches target use, which it expected during 2026.

What Serve promised next

The Q1 report set out a steep ramp. Serve said delivery volume grew more than 75% between the first and last weeks of the quarter, and that it had over 1,500 merchant partners, five times as many as a year earlier. It guided to Q2 revenue of $600,000 to $700,000. It expected to build at least 700 lower-cost robots in the third quarter and the rest in the fourth.

Serve also said it would start selling software and data, with "a top-tier European automaker and a middle-mile autonomous trucking company" among expected customers. It didn't name them. It said its cash gave it "runway through the end of 2026." Atlanta, it said, was "on track" to launch next.

What went wrong

Costs far ahead of revenue. Each dollar of Q1 revenue cost about $4.33 to deliver.
A big jump required. Going from 73 daily active robots to 2,000 deployed in nine months is Serve's own plan, not a result.
Down from a year earlier. Q1 revenue of $440,465 was below Q1 2024's $946,711, when software services brought in $851,101, against $228,847 this time.
One main platform. Serve's deliveries ran mainly through Uber Eats, so its volume depended on one partner.
What we don't know yet: how many robots run in Dallas and how many orders they carry.

Our follow-up question for Serve Robotics

How many robots are delivering in Dallas, and what does a single robot delivery cost Serve today?

Later developments (added Oct. 2026)

2025 results (March 11, 2026): Serve said it reached 2,000 deployed robots by year-end, in 20 cities across six metros. Full-year revenue was $2.7 million. Daily active robots averaged 547 in Q4. It had $260 million in cash and marketable securities, and guided to about $26 million in 2026 revenue. (SEC)
Guidance cut (Aug. 6, 2026): Q2 2026 revenue was $3.238 million and daily active robots averaged 792, down from 812 in Q1. Serve cut 2026 guidance to $9 million–$10 million, citing "lower than expected delivery volume through the Company's Uber Eats partnership." (SEC)
Uber renewal in doubt: Zacks reported that Kashani does not expect to renew the Uber agreement when it expires in early 2027 unless the operating model improves meaningfully, and that talks continue. (Yahoo Finance/Zacks)
New partners (Aug. 17, 2026): Serve announced a Grubhub partnership starting in Chicago, Los Angeles and Alexandria, and launches in Washington, D.C., and San Jose with DoorDash. (SEC)

Sources

Serve Robotics, “Serve Robotics Saddles Up for Autonomous Delivery in Dallas-Fort Worth Via Uber Eats,” April 3, 2025. globenewswire.com
The Robot Report, “Serve Robotics brings autonomous delivery robots to Dallas,” April 6, 2025. therobotreport.com
Dallas Innovates, “Serve Robotics Partners with Wing to Load Dallas Drone Restaurant Deliveries via Sidewalk Robots,” Oct. 1, 2024. dallasinnovates.com
Serve Robotics, “Serve Robotics Announces First Quarter 2025 Results,” May 8, 2025. investors.serverobotics.com
Serve Robotics, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1 (fourth quarter and full year 2025 results), March 11, 2026. sec.gov
Serve Robotics, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1 (second quarter 2026 results), Aug. 6, 2026. sec.gov
Zacks via Yahoo Finance, Aug. 10, 2026. finance.yahoo.com
Serve Robotics, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1, Aug. 17, 2026. sec.gov
Serve Robotics, “Serve Teams Up with Wonder and Grubhub Amid a New Wave of Expansion,” Aug. 17, 2026. serverobotics.com

Disclosure: [not in copy] Editor placeholder