Insider Brief
- The service robotics market is surging—IFR estimates ~30% growth to ~205,000 units in 2023 with ~80% in APAC, transportation/logistics exceeding 50% of 2024 deployments, and RaaS contracts up ~31% in 2024.
- Players are scaling fast: Starship hit 8M autonomous deliveries, Serve deployed 1,000+ sidewalk bots, Nuro raised $106M and pivoted to licensing, Waymo expanded multi-city service, and Uber–Lucid–Nuro plan 20,000+ Level-4 robotaxis over six years, while Baidu’s Apollo Go surpassed 11M rides.
- Despite momentum, challenges persist—geofenced Level-4 operations, safety and regulatory scrutiny, mixed public trust, and retrenchments like Amazon’s Scout—yet capital, partnerships, and city rollouts point to continued growth through 2025–26.
The service robotics market has exploded in recent years, driven by labor shortages and high demand for contactless delivery and mobility. The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) reports that professional service robot sales jumped roughly 30% in 2023 to about 205,000 units worldwide. Nearly 80% of these were sold in Asia-Pacific, with Europe and the Americas growing more slowly.
Within service robots, transportation and logistics is by far the largest application: IFR data show over 100,000 robots (about 52% of the total) were deployed in 2024 just for handling and moving goods. Many companies now prefer “robot-as-a-service” (RaaS) models – renting fleets instead of buying – and RaaS is booming (IFR finds RaaS contracts grew ~31% in 2024) as businesses seek lower up-front costs.
IFR reports that over half of professional service robots sold in 2024 were for transportation and logistics – mainly moving goods and deliveries.
Delivery-Robot Players
In last-mile delivery, several companies have racked up milestones. Estonian startup Starship Technologies leads the sidewalk-bot segment: in April 2025 it announced its fleet (over 2,000 battery-powered bots in the US and Europe) had completed 8 million autonomous deliveries to date. Starship’s robots serve university campuses and urban neighborhoods for grocery, takeout and parcel delivery, and the company touts that its electric bots have saved hundreds of tonnes of CO₂ by reducing car trips. Similarly, China’s Alibaba has used over 500 of its Xiaomanlv delivery robots on campus and last-mile routes, achieving 10 million parcel deliveries by early 2022, according to the company. These robots (nicknamed “little donkeys”) carry up to 50 packages and travel ~100 km per charge, automating university and residential deliveries.
In the US market, Nuro is a key player. Reuters reported that Nuro’s R2 mini-van robots have been used for grocery and restaurant delivery, in partnership with companies including Kroger, Walmart, Chipotle. In April 2025, Nuro announced a $106 million funding round (at a $6 billion valuation) and a strategic pivot: rather than just building delivery vehicles, it will license its self-driving technology to other automakers and fleets.
“Our technology, years of experience with driver-out Level 4 deployments, and focus on licensing uniquely position us to help automakers, mobility platforms, and commercial fleets accelerate their autonomy roadmaps,” Jiajun Zhu, co-founder and CEO of Nuro, said at the time.
Another notable startup is Serve Robotics (spun out of Uber in 2021). Serve builds advanced sidewalk delivery robots and has struck deals with major brands. In October 2025 Serve announced it had deployed its 1,000th delivery robot nationwide and was on track for 2,000 by year-end. Serve already operates under long-term contracts with Uber Eats and 7‑Eleven, aiming to put thousands of bots on the road for sustained robot delivery.
By contrast, some tech giants are scaling back or reprioritizing. Amazon discontinued active tests of its “Scout” sidewalk delivery robot in 2022, acknowledging it hadn’t met performance targets, Reuters reported. Instead, Amazon is investing in its robotaxi venture Zoox.. Walmart has piloted its own small robots for store-to-home delivery (e.g. via partnerships with Gatik), and shipping firms like DHL and FedEx are experimenting with larger autonomous vehicles (e.g. FedEx’s SameDay Bot), but these remain in limited trials.
Robotaxi Advances and Key Players
The autonomous taxi (robotaxi) sector has seen both breakthroughs and setbacks. In the U.S., Alphabet’s Waymo remains the most mature service. By late 2024 Waymo had a commercial, all-driverless ride-hailing service in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin, AI Insider previously reported. Waymo announced expansion plans – for example, opening in Miami and gearing up for Atlanta and Washington, D.C. in 2026, as well as a partnership with Lyft announced in September to bring service to Nashville, Tennessee. Uber has partnered with Waymo to integrate Waymo’s fleet on the Uber app in Austin, and Waymo recently raised $5.6 billion to fuel U.S. rollout.
General Motors’ Cruise was once a leading U.S. robotaxi developer, but it stumbled. In late 2024 GM decided to cease funding Cruise’s robotaxi work. GM cited the high cost of fleets and fierce competition. Cruise has also faced regulatory trouble: it admitted to withholding details in a 2023 San Francisco crash and agreed to a $500,000 fine as part of a settlement, Traffic Technology Today noted. In parallel, Cruise’s long-time CEO resigned, and GM is folding Cruise into its driver-assist division.
New entrants have emerged. Tesla said in 2025 it would begin testing fully autonomous robotaxis, and in mid-2025 Tesla deployed a small fleet in Austin, TX for public robotaxi trials, CNBC rerported. Tesla’s approach is camera-based (no lidar), and its vehicles (part of a planned “Network”) will charge a premium compared to human-driven rides. Separately, Amazon’s Zoox has quietly ramped up testing of its custom two-passenger electric robotaxi. In September 2025 Zoox launched free public robotaxi rides on the Las Vegas Strip as a demo, with paid service coming soon. (Amazon paid $1.3 billion to acquire Zoox in 2020.) Zoox’s unique bidirectional cab – no steering wheel – represents another design path in the market.
Meanwhile, Lyft continues to leverage partnerships. Lyft has provided over 130,000 autonomous rides (mainly in Las Vegas with Motional) and is exploring expansions in San Francisco and other cities, Smart Cities reports. Lyft is also collaborating with startups like Mobileye and May Mobility to integrate AVs on its platform. Both Uber and Lyft executives note that early robotaxi trips carry a premium fare and serve as a niche complement to human drivers.
Uber, Lucid, and Nuro will launch a Level-4 robotaxi service on the Uber platform—starting in a major U.S. city next year—with a plan to deploy 20,000+ Lucid Gravity vehicles equipped with Nuro’s Driver system over six years, according to Lucid. Uber said it will make multi-hundred-million-dollar investments in Lucid and Nuro as the partners integrate autonomy hardware at Lucid’s line and software from Nuro, aiming for a scalable, long-range fleet managed exclusively through Uber.
In China, robotaxi rollouts are even more aggressive. Baidu’s Apollo Go service, backed by major automakers, operates in 15 Chinese cities (including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen) and internationally in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Reuters reported. By mid-2025 Apollo Go had completed over 11 million rides worldwide, according to Reuters. Pony.ai and WeRide are the other Chinese “big three”. Pony.ai has raised billions and inked a deal to deploy AVs in Shanghai and (later in 2025) in the Middle East. WeRide, which already runs a pilot service called TXAI in Shanghai and Guangzhou, holds the first AV test license in the UAE and in 2021 launched a Dubai robotaxi fleet in partnership with local firm Space42. In 2024–25 both Pony.ai and Baidu announced new robotaxi partnerships in the Gulf: Uber paired with WeRide in Abu Dhabi, and Baidu’s Apollo teamed with Abu Dhabi’s AutoGo to build out a fully driverless fleet, Rest of the World reported.
Technology, Business Models and Investments
Technologically, most delivery bots and robotaxis today are level-4 autonomous vehicles: they can drive themselves under specific conditions (mapped areas, good weather) but may request remote human help in rare cases. They typically rely on combinations of cameras, lidar, radar and AI software to perceive the environment. Advances in electric batteries allow these bots to operate for tens of kilometers per charge, and upgrades in 5G/V2X networks improve remote connectivity and data collection. Companies are also experimenting with teleoperation fallback (remote drivers intervening), especially for complex urban delivery routes.
From a business perspective, revenue models vary. Delivery-robot fleets often operate via service contracts with retailers or delivery platforms. For instance, grocery chains or restaurants pay robotics firms to supplement their last-mile logistics. As noted, RaaS (leasing robots) is growing fast – IFR says RaaS fleets increased by over 40% in 2024, IFR notes, because operators want to avoid owning depreciating hardware. Robotaxis will likely charge premium fares at first to recoup costs, and companies may share revenue with ride-hailing platforms (Waymo’s deal to sell rides via Uber/Lyft is an example). Long-term, executives envision mixed fleets where robotaxis fill gaps during peak demand or in areas with few drivers, according to Smart Cities.
Investments remain substantial. Waymo’s recent $5.6 billion financing round (led by Alphabet) was one of the largest, signaling confidence from tech investors. Chinese AV firms have also raised billions privately. Venture capital has poured into promising startups like Nuro and Zoox (Amazon’s robotaxi) as well as mapping/sensing firms. Partnerships are another form of investment: for example, automakers often invest directly (Ford invested in Argo AI before winding it down; Toyota backs Nuro) and retailers fund deployments to modernize logistics.
Challenges and Outlook
Despite the buzz, challenges loom. Safety and trust remain paramount. Autonomous vehicles must prove they are at least as safe as human drivers; one industry report claims Waymo’s cars have significantly fewer accidents and insurance claims than humans, The Next Web points out, but incidents (like Cruise’s 2023 collision) serve as cautionary tales. Public perception of robotaxi safety is mixed, and pedestrian interactions with sidewalk robots raise new questions.
Regulators are also catching up. In many jurisdictions, legal and ethical issues – such as liability in a crash or how much oversight authorities should have – are unresolved. Some cities impose strict geofencing or speed limits on autonomous testing, slowing deployment. Others worry about job impacts: for example, automated taxis could displace thousands of drivers (a particular concern in regions with large migrant workforces), according to Rest of World.
Looking ahead, the trends are clear: service robots are proliferating in both logistics and mobility. IFR’s president notes the industry is “on the move,” with more robots “serving… on the street” for deliveries and navigation. In 2025–26 we expect to see more public rollouts – Waymo expanding to new U.S. cities, more robotaxis in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and delivery bots increasingly integrated into urban services. Strategic partnerships (e.g. between tech companies, automakers and logistics providers) and steady funding will drive further growth.
