Sidewalk robots head to Miami on Uber Eats

From the archive. First announced by Serve Robotics, February 2025. Where it stands now: Serve still listed Miami among its markets and was preparing its first micro depots there, as of August 2026, Serve Robotics, Aug. 17, 2026. Whether its robots still carry Uber Eats orders in Miami: Unknown. That month Serve cut its revenue guidance over lower Uber Eats volume, Serve Robotics, Aug. 6, 2026. Why I saved this: Sidewalk robots carrying Shake Shack orders through Brickell and Miami Beach is the kind of deployment you can see on the street. But Serve didn't say how many robots were in Miami or what a delivery costs.

MIAMI, February 2025 — Serve Robotics has started delivering Uber Eats orders by sidewalk robot in Miami. Here's what it launched, what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of March 4, 2025)

Where: Brickell and Miami Beach, areas with about 120,000 residents, per Serve. (Serve)
Robots in Miami: not disclosed. Serve's plan is 2,000 robots across the U.S. by the end of 2025. (Serve)
Capability claimed: up to 11 mph and 15 gallons of food, or four 16-inch pizzas. (Axios Miami)
Price per delivery and contract terms: not disclosed.

What launched

Customers ordering from select Shake Shack and Mister O1 locations in Brickell and Miami Beach on Uber Eats "may receive their next order" from a Serve robot, the company said. It's Serve's first market on the East Coast, Reuters reported, after Los Angeles, with Dallas-Fort Worth announced as next.

Serve said it "worked closely with city officials and local stakeholders." Its release says it has a signed agreement to deploy up to 2,000 robots on Uber Eats across several U.S. markets.

"Expanding to the Miami Metro is a major step in our mission to make sustainable, autonomous delivery a reality across the U.S.," said Ali Kashani, Serve's CEO and co-founder. Megan Jensen, Uber's head of autonomous delivery operations, said the robots make "getting your favorite meals even more effortless and fun."

The restaurants spoke in the release too. Steph So, Shake Shack's chief growth officer, said the partnership "aligns perfectly with our vision of enlightened hospitality." Chef Renato Viola of Mister O1 called robot delivery "an exciting step forward in convenience and innovation." Neither said how many orders they expected the robots to carry.

Not Miami's first robots

Serve says it has completed "tens of thousands of deliveries" for partners including Uber Eats and 7-Eleven. Miami has seen sidewalk robots before. Axios noted that Uber Eats ran a separate pilot in Dadeland in 2022, and that Tiny Mile's small pink robots reached downtown streets in 2023. Waymo was also testing self-driving cars in Miami, aiming to launch rides in 2026.

The jobs pitch

Kashani told Axios the robots would, "for the foreseeable future," have a net positive effect on jobs, including for delivery drivers. His argument: robots don't ask for tips, so delivery gets cheaper, demand rises, and more human and robot delivery jobs follow. "Most people today don't do deliveries as much as they want," he said. That's a forecast, not a measured result.

The test order

Serve's team placed a Shake Shack order in South Beach, and Axios reporters followed the robot. The robot handled crowds and tight corners but stopped when an orange Lamborghini Urus blocked the crosswalk. Serve told Axios that a remote human has to give a green light before a robot crosses a street.

What went wrong

Shared sidewalks. Axios noted that Lincoln Road, the pedestrian promenade where Serve runs, restricts bike riding before 9am and bans recreational motorized vehicles, with exceptions for "service vehicles authorized by the city." Axios didn't say how the robots qualify, and Serve didn't publish a city permit.
Not fully hands-off. Every street crossing needs a remote person's approval, per Serve.
No unit economics. Serve didn't say what a robot delivery costs, or how many robots are running.
Cheaper for whom? Kashani's case rests on lower delivery costs, but neither Serve nor Uber said whether customers pay less for a robot delivery.
What we don't know yet: how many orders the robots carry, and whether Miami Beach set any conditions.

Our follow-up question for Serve Robotics

How many robots are delivering in Miami, and what share of eligible Uber Eats orders do they carry?

Later developments (added Oct. 2026)

On Dec. 1, 2025, CBS News Miami reported that the robots typically travel 3 to 5 mph and deliver only within 1.25 miles of a restaurant. Residents were split: "They contest the sidewalk," said one; another said they hadn't "gotten in the way." CBS reported that the robots had boosted Rice Mediterranean's business; speaking of its robot orders, general manager Pierre El Kossaifi said: "It's a lot, more than a hundred orders daily." (CBS News Miami)
In an Aug. 17, 2026 SEC filing, Serve said its first micro depots, "low-cost, small-footprint sites," were set to open in Miami, and announced a Grubhub partnership. Days earlier, on Aug. 6, Serve had cut its 2026 revenue guidance, citing "lower than expected delivery volume through the Company's Uber Eats partnership" (SEC; Part 2). (SEC)

Sources

Serve Robotics, “Serve Robotics Expands to Miami Metro, Offering Autonomous Delivery for Shake Shack and Mister O1,” GlobeNewswire, Feb. 19, 2025. globenewswire.com
Reuters, “Delivery robot firm Serve Robotics expands to Miami in first East Coast launch,” Feb. 19, 2025. reuters.com
Axios Miami, Martin Vassolo, “Miami's newest robot fleet handles UberEats deliveries,” March 4, 2025. axios.com
Axios Miami, “We ordered UberEats from Miami's new delivery robots,” March 4, 2025. axios.com
CBS News Miami, Dec. 1, 2025. cbsnews.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
Serve Robotics, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1 (second quarter 2026 results), Aug. 6, 2026. sec.gov

Disclosure: [not in copy] Editor placeholder