AI Investments Spark Robotics Funding Boom
Figure & 1X update humanoids, Serve hits Miami
Last week’s news was awfully humanoid-heavy, but this week the human-like robots show no signs of slowing down, taking on new kitchen-related tasks. We’ve also got new delivery bots in Miami and some very encouraging funding data; read on!
PARTNER | Ride Share and On-Demand Deliveries Changing, Here’s What You Need To Know
Ride Share and On-Demand Deliveries Changing, Here’s What You Need To Know
The rideshare and on-demand delivery landscape is evolving rapidly—with rising costs, shifting consumer behavior, and a surge in retail and grocery delivery redefining how people and goods move. The 2025 Gridwise Annual Gig Mobility Report reveals key insights for restaurants, grocery stores, retailers, mobility firms, and investors.
Rising Costs & Consumer Behavior: Rideshare fares are up 7.2%, and 72.3% of consumers may cut back if prices keep rising.
Delivery Demand Surge: DoorDash retail deliveries up 34.1%, Uber Eats up 46.6%, and Macy’s retail deliveries skyrocketed by 4,500%.
Driver Earnings Under Pressure: Uber drivers are down 4% at $23.33/hr, and Lyft drivers are down 6% at $23.23/hr.
The Gig Mobility industry is at a turning point.
Get the full report now and discover what’s next for on-demand delivery and rideshare.
Robotics Funding Sees Growth
While the capital markets might not be as frothy as they were back in 2021, there are encouraging new signs of life for the automation sector. PitchBook finds that VC deal activity for robotics surged to $6.1 billion in 2024, closing in on its all-time high. Much of the enthusiasm has come to the sector’s link to AI, which in turn has led to larger average deal sizes for the space.
The foodtech space also saw funding rise year over year, albeit far more modestly than robotics, thanks to big fundraises and exits from the likes of Planet A Foods, Keychain, Solubag, Swiggy, Sentil and more.
Figure Advances Kitchen-Friendly Humanoids
Figure AI showed off new capabilities for its humanoid robotics system, as it introduced its “Helix” Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model. Based on a single voice prompt, two robots put novel groceries away in a kitchen.
1X Unveils NEO Gamma
Not to be outdone, 1X released an updated humanoid of its own, with the new NEO Gamma replacing the previous NEO Beta model. The LLM-powered robot can converse with humans, and better adapts to homes than the previous model; video footage shows the bot hard at work in a kitchen, a familiar site for robots these days.
Serve Robotics Heads to Miami
Right after bringing Avride to Jersey City, Uber Eats has another east coast delivery robot expansion: its partner Serve Robotics has gone live in Miami, Florida. Alongside existing restaurant partner Shake Shack and new partner Mister 01 Extraordinary Pizza, Serve is servin’ up meals in the Brickell and Miami Beach areas.
In Other News
Wingstop updates kitchens with AI-related improvements. Yamaha Motors purchases Robotics Plus, to form part of new Yamaha Agriculture brand. Apptronik selects Jabil to manufacture Apollo humanoids.