Consumers rely on e-commerce platforms for everyday deliveries of groceries, electronics, apparel, and more. With the e-commerce sector booming, projections indicate that by 2027, 23% of American retail purchases will occur online. Despite this growth, the cost per delivery remains significantly high. Addressing this challenge, Vayu Robotics has unveiled the world’s first on-road Delivery Robot powered by AI foundation models combined with lidar-less, low-cost passive sensors.
Traditional mobile robots often rely on expensive lidar sensors and software designed for single tasks, leading to high costs and fragile systems. In contrast, Vayu’s Delivery Robot utilizes a transformer-based mobility foundation model paired with a powerful passive sensor, eliminating the need for lidar. This design allows the robot to operate autonomously without pre-mapping roads and is capable of navigating inside stores, city streets, and unloading packages on driveways or porches. With a carrying capacity of up to 100 lbs and speeds under 20mph, it is touted as the most cost-effective and reliable delivery system available.
Vayu Robotics was co-founded by Anand Gopalan, Mahesh Krishnamurthi, and Nitish Srivastava, all veterans in robotics and mobility. Gopalan, who previously led Velodyne public in 2020, and Krishnamurthi and Srivastava, both formerly of Apple SPG, realized that large-scale robotics applications needed a new technology stack featuring lower-cost hardware and more robust software. Geoffrey Hinton, a renowned AI expert, also advises the company.
Anand Gopalan, CEO of Vayu Robotics, stated, “The unique set of technologies we have developed at Vayu have allowed us to solve problems that have plagued delivery robots over the past decade, and finally create a solution that can actually be deployed at scale and enable the cheap transport of goods everywhere.”
Vayu’s Delivery Robots are already being deployed in real-world scenarios. The company recently signed a substantial commercial agreement with a major e-commerce player to deploy 2500 robots for ultra-fast goods delivery. They are also collaborating with a leading global robotics manufacturer to replace lidar sensors with Vayu’s sensing technology for other robotic applications.
Kanu Gulati, Partner at Khosla Ventures, commented, “At Khosla Ventures, we believe in backing businesses where critical and differentiated technologies can unlock a large market. Vayu is a great example of this where they have deployed novel sensing and their AI foundation models to a robotic challenge that can have immense economic and societal impact.”
Gopalan added, “Our software is robot form factor agnostic and we have already deployed it across several wheeled form factors. In the near future, Vayu's software technology will enable the movement of quadrupedal and bipedal robots, allowing us to expand into those markets as well.”
Having previously raised $12.7 million, Vayu Robotics aims to remove hardware and software bottlenecks that have hindered e-commerce growth. The founders believe their innovative low-cost robotics system can power a new wave of mobile robots for various applications. Gopalan emphasized, “Autonomous delivery robots are only the tip of the iceberg.” With its cutting-edge technology and strategic deployments, Vayu is set to lead the next phase of real-world robotics adoption across industries, empowering small businesses to deliver products directly to customers' doorsteps seamlessly.
