Grubhub and Avride Bring Robot Delivery to College Campuses

Grubhub is working with Avride to bring robot delivery to American college campuses.

The program, already available at The Ohio State University, lets students at Grubhub partnered-colleges order meals, snacks and convenience items for delivery via robot, the company said in a news release Thursday (Jan. 30).

“Working with Avride deepens our commitment to allow our campus partners to seamlessly integrate innovative delivery experiences into their dining operations,” said Rob DelaCruz, vice president and general manager of Grubhub Campus. “Students love the convenience of robot delivery, and we’re excited to continue offering our campus partners a variety of delivery options to best meet their unique needs.”

The first fleet of 100 robots are now active at The Ohio State University, designed to the high delivery volumes expected from a campus of that size.

“With advanced technology drawn from Avride’s expertise in autonomous vehicles, Avride’s robots are intelligent and reliable — even in challenging conditions like rain or snow,” the release said. “They boast a spacious compartment that can handle anything from a quick snack between classes to an assortment of pizzas and drinks for a get together with friends.”

The release noted that the robot delivery is part of the larger Grubhub Campus Dining offering, available at more than 360 universities.

The partnership comes as other companies make headway in the robotic delivery space. Serve Robotics, a startup spun off from Uber in 2021, began the year announcing it had raised $86 million in new financing in December.

The new capital brought the company’s total raised in 2024 to $167 million — $220 million in all since launch — and extended its operational runway through the end of next year.

Serve said it has completed tens of thousands of deliveries for Uber Eats, 7-Eleven and other partners, and has multi-year contracts that include a signed agreement to deploy as many as 2,000 delivery robots on the Uber Eats platform.

Meanwhile, PYMNTS wrote earlier this month about the myriad robotics offerings on display at this year’s CES show in Las Vegas.

“From artificial intelligence (AI) being embedded into everything and smarter than ever home devices, to autonomous robotic companions and wearable tech that both bends and blends reality, many of the inventions that once seemed out of reach in Hollywood films are now being unveiled on the convention floor,” that report said.