Oct 1 (Reuters) - Serve Robotics ( SERV ), which

delivers food for Uber Eats using sidewalk robots, said it would

partner with Alphabet-owned Wing Aviation to use

drones, extending the operational range to more than six miles.

The pilot, announced on Tuesday, would take place in Dallas,

Texas, and mark Serve's entry into the market. The tie-up will

have Serve's robots pick up food from restaurants and transfer

it to Wing drones for aerial delivery.

The company's operations have so far focused on Los Angeles,

where it delivers food and groceries for convenience retailer

7-Eleven and Shake Shack ( SHAK ), in addition to Uber

Eats.

Multi-modal delivery will expand Serve's reach, enabling

30-minute autonomous delivery citywide, Serve's CEO Ali Kashani

said.

While drones were once touted to be the future of package

and food delivery, their adoption has been limited by a lack of

spaces for takeoff and landing in cities. Unlike them, sidewalk

delivery robots are designed to navigate urban environments,

making them a more practical solution.

"Through this pilot partnership, Wing hopes to reach more

merchants in highly congested areas while supporting Serve as it

works to expand its delivery radius," Wing CEO Adam Woodworth

said.

Serve, spun off from Postmates in 2021 a year after its

acquisition by Uber ( UBER ), said merchants would not have to make any

changes to their workflow or facilities to accommodate

robot-to-drone deliveries.

The Alphabet unit, which started as a project within

incubator Google X, has completed more than 400,000 commercial

deliveries across three continents, Woodworth added.