Ouster, provider of digital lidar sensors, has signed a strategic customer agreement with autonomous sidewalk delivery company Serve Robotics. The agreement includes the delivery of OS digital lidar sensors through 2023, along with forecast for additional sensors through 2025 as Serve Robotics scales its delivery fleets across U.S. cities and beyond.
Serve Robotics plans to outfit each of its next-generation delivery robots with an Ouster OS1 sensor. The digital lidar is fused into the robot’s autonomy stack to locate its precise position and simultaneously generate a real-time 3D map of its surrounding environment so that it can navigate more safely and efficiently on city sidewalks alongside pedestrians and other road users.
Serve Robotics recently launched its Level 4 self-driving robots. This fleet of next-generation robots will power the company’s expansion into additional geographies as it rolls out delivery service for Uber Eats and other partners in 2022. Last mile delivery is the most expensive part of the delivery chain, often representing more than 50% of the overall cost. The proliferation of autonomous delivery represents a significant opportunity to capture an estimated $1.8 billion total addressable market (TAM) for lidar in the robotics industry by 20252.
