Robots and drones will be working together to improve food delivery for restaurants in select markets across the USA.

The partnership between autonomous sidewalk delivery company Serve Robotics and on-demand drone delivery provider Wing Aviation aims to expand eco-friendly, autonomous last-kilometre food delivery.

In the coming months, select Wing deliveries will be picked up by a Serve delivery robot from the restaurant’s kerbside and delivered to a Wing drone AutoLoader a few blocks away, for aerial delivery to customers as much as 10km away.

Robot-to-drone delivery will enable merchants to tap into drone delivery without any changes to their facilities or workflow and extend the delivery area for sidewalk delivery robots. This collaboration represents a step towards enabling highly automated delivery as the preferred mode of delivery for the millions of small packages delivered every day around the world.

“We’re excited to partner with Wing to offer a multi-modal delivery experience that expands our market from roughly half of all food deliveries that are within two miles [3.2km] of a restaurant, to offering 30 minute autonomous delivery across an entire city,” said Ali Kashani, CEO of Serve Robotics. “Together, Serve and Wing share an ambitious vision for reliable and affordable robotic delivery at scale. Our end-to-end robotic delivery will be the most efficient mode for the significant majority of deliveries.”

Adam Woodworth, CEO at Wing, added: “At Wing, we have been delivering food and other goods directly to consumers for over five years, completing more than 400,000 commercial deliveries across three continents. We have a proven ability to make deliveries quickly and efficiently. Both Wing and Serve offer innovations that are changing the way goods are delivered. Through this pilot partnership, Wing hopes to reach more merchants in highly-congested areas while supporting Serve as it works to expand its delivery radius.”

Wing drones fly above the gridlock and Serve robots operate exclusively on sidewalks, so deliveries avoid being snarled in street traffic. Drones and robots both lower delivery costs for the operator and consumer with no need for tipping.

Both fully-electric, Wing (wing.com) and Serve (www.serverobotics.com) reduce vehicle emissions associated with food delivery, as well as reducing traffic and congestion. By keeping vehicles off the roads, Serve and Wing can help cut down on traffic accidents.

Kerbside robotic package pickup allows merchants to access drone delivery without modifying their facilities or installing equipment.