In a bid to cut down the costs of e-commerce deliveries, Vayu Robotics has introduced the world’s first on-road delivery robot, which merges the capabilities of modern AI foundation models with low-cost, lidar-less passive sensors. Traditional mobile robots depend on expensive lidar sensors and single-function software modules, resulting in high hardware costs and fragile software that struggles with new scenarios. Vayu’s new robot takes a different approach, combining a transformer-based mobility foundation model with a robust passive sensor, eliminating the need for lidar. This enables the robot to operate autonomously without pre-mapping its routes and navigate seamlessly inside stores, on city streets, and deliver packages to driveways or porches, carrying up to 100 lbs at speeds under 20 mph. This innovation offers a cost-effective, safe, and reliable delivery system.

Vayu Robotics was co-founded by three industry veterans: Anand Gopalan, former CEO of Velodyne, who took the company public in 2020; Mahesh Krishnamurthi, previously with Apple SPG and Lyft; and Nitish Srivastava, also from Apple SPG and Geoffrey Hinton’s AI lab at the University of Toronto. Geoffrey Hinton also serves as an advisor to Vayu. “The unique technologies we’ve developed at Vayu have allowed us to overcome challenges that have hindered delivery robots for the past decade, creating a scalable solution for affordable goods transportation,” said Anand Gopalan, CEO of Vayu Robotics.

The company recently secured a commercial agreement with a major e-commerce player to deploy 2,500 robots for ultra-fast delivery, with similar deals in the pipeline. Vayu is also collaborating with a leading global robotics manufacturer to replace lidar sensors with their sensing technology for other robotic applications. Vayu has raised $12.7 million to advance its mission of removing hardware and software obstacles that have limited the growth of e-commerce.

Gopalan added, “Our software is robot form factor agnostic, and we have deployed it across several wheeled form factors. In the near future, Vayu’s technology will enable quadrupedal and bipedal robots, expanding our reach into those markets as well.” Autonomous delivery robots are just the beginning for Vayu Robotics.