Serve Robotics Opens Delivery Fleet to Developers and AI Agents

Serve Robotics launched its AV Delivery Developer Portal on November 11, 2026, giving independent developers, businesses and AI assistants a public API for requesting deliveries from its 2,000-robot sidewalk fleet, plus a sandbox for testing without dispatching a live machine.

The portal changes access to a fleet that had been available only through third-party delivery partners. Serve reports hundreds of thousands of completed deliveries across more than 150 neighborhoods in 20 U.S. cities. Outside applications can now initiate deliveries directly instead of requiring an integration with a large delivery platform.

The announcement follows Serve’s November 5 launch of Physical AI Services, which opened the technology behind its robots to companies developing new types of robots. This release addresses a different layer: access to deliveries on Serve’s existing fleet.

Quote, Create and Track

The official Delivery API documentation describes three principal REST calls: request a quote, create a job from an accepted quote, and poll the job until its status becomes dropoff_complete. A quote response supplies an identifier, fee and estimated drop-off time. Each quote expires after five minutes and can be used only once.

An instant-jobs endpoint combines quoting and job creation for applications that always accept the price. Developers can also retrieve a job’s planned route and display it on their own map.

The application or AI assistant supplies pickup and drop-off details, confirms the delivery and tracks the robot. Serve retains responsibility for dispatch, routing, navigation and supervision, allowing developers to integrate physical delivery without operating robots themselves.

Sandbox Testing and Live Access

The sandbox runs the complete delivery lifecycle against simulated robots, so testing does not dispatch a physical vehicle. Developers can force eight rejection conditions covering pickup or drop-off locations a robot cannot traverse, excessive delivery distance, requests outside operating hours, unreachable pickup or drop-off deadlines, busy couriers and internal errors. That lets builders test exception handling alongside successful deliveries.

Sandbox access does not automatically authorize live deliveries. Real-robot dispatch requires Serve’s approval, with early-access invitations opening one neighborhood at a time. Serve said robots dispatched through the API remain subject to its standard remote monitoring by trained supervisors and the safety systems built into each vehicle.

Cargo Limits and Potential Uses

API deliveries must stay within active service areas and operating hours, and items must fit inside the robot. The documentation describes an insulated compartment that can hold up to four large pizza boxes plus drinks and sides.

Serve presents inter-office transport, merchant deliveries to customers, expanded local-business delivery and delivery features inside existing apps as potential uses. Its examples also include personal errands and tasks assigned to AI assistants, while cautioning that they are illustrative and that availability depends on location, operating hours and the item being sent.

“You shouldn’t have to start a robotics company to build something useful with robots,” said Ali Kashani, Serve’s co-founder and CEO. He said people living and working in the neighborhoods served by its robots may have needs the company has not anticipated.

Serve is opening access to its robots without giving up operational control: outside parties can build the software and customer experience, while live deliveries remain gated by Serve’s approval, neighborhood coverage, service hours and cargo limits.