On January 20, 2026, Serve Robotics Inc. (Nasdaq: SERV), a pioneer in autonomous sidewalk delivery, announced a definitive agreement to acquire Diligent Robotics, the creator of the acclaimed hospital assistant robot, Moxi. The deal, valued at approximately $29 million in an all-stock transaction with an additional $5.3 million in performance-based earn-outs, marks a significant strategic pivot for Serve. By absorbing Diligent, Serve is expanding its "Physical AI" footprint from city sidewalks into the complex, high-stakes environment of indoor healthcare logistics.

The acquisition brings Moxi, a sophisticated mobile manipulator robot, into the Serve family. Unlike sidewalk bots that primarily navigate GPS-mapped paths, Moxi is designed to operate in bustling hospital corridors, using a robotic arm to open doors, press elevator buttons, and handle sensitive medical supplies. Currently deployed in over 25 major U.S. hospital facilities, including Northwestern Medicine and ChristianaCare, Moxi has already clocked over 1.25 million deliveries, proving the commercial viability of autonomous indoor service.

The primary objective of the merger is to create a unified "Full-Stack Autonomy Platform." Serve CEO Dr. Ali Kashani emphasized that while the environments differ, the underlying "AI brain" required for navigation, obstacle avoidance, and task prioritization is remarkably similar. By merging their data streams, Serve intends to create a massive "data flywheel" where insights from sidewalk navigation help improve indoor pathing, and Moxi’s manipulation capabilities inform future generations of outdoor delivery bots.

From a financial perspective, the healthcare sector offers a lucrative recurring revenue model. Each Moxi deployment is projected to generate between $200,000 and $400,000 in annual revenue, providing Serve with a stable, high-margin income stream to complement its on-demand food delivery business. As hospitals face chronic nursing shortages, the demand for robots that can handle the "heavy lifting" of delivering lab samples and medications is at an all-time high, positioning the combined company as a critical infrastructure provider.

Strategic partnerships with tech giants like NVIDIA and Uber are expected to play a central role in the post-acquisition roadmap. Serve plans to leverage its existing manufacturing scale to reduce the production costs of the Moxi hardware, while utilizing NVIDIA’s latest Blackwell-generation chips to enhance the robots' real-time decision-making. This technological synergy is aimed at accelerating the deployment of Moxi to hundreds of new hospitals across North America by the end of 2027.

Under the terms of the agreement, Diligent Robotics will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Serve. Andrea Thomaz, the co-founder and CEO of Diligent and a renowned robotics expert from Georgia Tech and UT Austin, will remain at the helm of the Diligent division. Her expertise in human-robot interaction is seen as vital for ensuring that autonomous bots can work seamlessly alongside medical staff without causing disruption in sensitive clinical settings.

The acquisition of Diligent Robotics represents a bold bet that the future of autonomy isn't limited to just one "niche." By controlling both the indoor and outdoor segments of the delivery chain, Serve Robotics is building the foundation for an integrated autonomous network. For investors and healthcare providers alike, the message is clear: the robots aren't just coming to your front door; they are ready to navigate the halls of the world’s most critical institutions.