Uber exits Serve Robotics as companies diverge on scaling

Uber exits Serve Robotics as companies diverge on scaling

2 min read•Aug 13, 2026•
Elena Vasquez
Elena Vasquez

Uber has sold its entire stake in Serve Robotics, an autonomous delivery robot company, first reported by TechCrunch. The sale comes as the companies have started to diverge on the business side, with differing views on scaling the shared autonomous fleet; Serve did not expect that it would make sense to renew the partnership when it expires in early 2027.

The exit had been in motion for at least a year. Regulatory filings show Uber reduced its stake in 2025, but the final selloff surprised Serve, which learned about it once it was officially disclosed, according to a source familiar with the events.

Serve began as Postmates X, the robotics division of Postmates, which Uber acquired in 2020 for $2.65 billion. A year later, the division spun out as an independent company called Serve Robotics, taking the name of the autonomous sidewalk delivery bot that Postmates X developed and piloted.

Uber backed Serve and entered a partnership with the company in 2022. The companies expanded that partnership in May 2023 to deploy up to 2,000 of Serve’s sidewalk bots onto Uber’s app in multiple markets in the United States.

At Serve’s August 6 second-quarter earnings call, co-founder and CEO Ali Kashani said delivery volume through Uber grew for 17 consecutive quarters, from the first quarter of 2022 through the first quarter of this year. The trend reversed in Q2 because of lower-than-expected robot utilization.

Kashani also said the companies had differing views about the operating model for scaling the shared autonomous fleet, including fleet coordination and merchant integration. During the same time frame, Serve’s deliveries with another food delivery partner grew nearly 50% in a single quarter.

Uber’s Q2 reversal and Serve’s nearly 50% increase in deliveries with another food delivery partner sit alongside the companies’ differing views on scaling the shared autonomous fleet. Kashani said Serve did not expect that it would make sense to renew the partnership agreement when it expires in early 2027.

Uber has partnered with or invested in more than 30 autonomous vehicle technology companies over the past several years.

Plug-in vehicles reach 32% of global registrations in September

Plug-in vehicles reached 32% of global registrations in September, first reported by Cleantechnica. Battery-electric vehicles accounted for 23% of registrations and set a record at 1.54 million, up 8% year over year, while plug-in hybrids fell 9%; year to date in 2026, BEVs were up 12% and PHEVs down 10%.

Global plug-in registrations rose 3% year over year to around 2.16 million in September, close to the all-time record of 2.17 million set last December.

Year to date, plug-in registrations were up 4% year over year: BEVs grew 12%, while PHEVs fell 10%. Their combined share for 2026 stood at 25%, with BEVs at 18% and PHEVs at 7%. The overall growth rate therefore hides a clear split between the two categories.

The Tesla Model Y led the model rankings with a record 165,000 registrations, up 17% year over year. Tesla Model 3 came second with 65,000, enough to move ahead of Geely Xingyuan and BYD Song despite a 4% annual decline.

BYD Song finished fourth at 54,519 registrations, up 19% and the fastest growth rate among the top five. An export push and the new-generation Ultra body helped lift the model.

At the make level, Tesla had a record 232,000 registrations, up 9% year over year. Toyota reached 61,332 for its fourth record in a row, finishing ahead of Volkswagen’s year-best 58,000 to become September’s best-selling legacy make.