Yandex Rover and Avride: a delivery robot that split from Yandex and moved to Uber Eats

A six-wheeled delivery robot from Russia

Yandex.Rover is a sidewalk delivery robot that Yandex began testing on its headquarters campus in November 2019. TechCrunch described it as following the cooler-on-wheels form that Starship pioneered. It has six wheels, lidar on top and moves at about walking speed. In April 2020 it opened its first commercial service in Skolkovo, Moscow, carrying documents and parcels for city administrative staff. Users tracked the robot and opened its compartment in an app. In July 2021 Yandex signed a multi-year partnership with Grubhub and moved into US college campuses. It aimed for more than 250 campuses and said it would start with dozens of robots in the fall. We found no public explanation from Yandex of why the form was chosen.

Pulled in 2022, renamed Avride in 2023

Grubhub had been running Yandex robot deliveries at Ohio State University and the University of Arizona. In March 2022 Grubhub announced the end of the partnership with Yandex, and 100 robots were pulled from the two campuses, which were handling about 1,000 deliveries a day. The AP reported it as robots with Russian ties being pulled from two US campuses. In August 2023 the international side of Yandex’s self-driving business opened a new website under the name Avride, as Yandex was restructuring to shed its Russian assets and keep its international businesses. In February 2024 Yandex N.V. announced the sale of its Russian business for 475 billion rubles, and Avride stayed. The parent later renamed itself Nebius Group. In October 2024 Avride announced a multi-year partnership with Uber and began Uber Eats delivery in Austin, then in Dallas in December. In January 2025 it teamed up with Grubhub again and put 100 robots at Ohio State. It opened Jersey City in February. In October Uber and Nebius committed up to $375 million.

100 restaurants in Jersey City, and eyes on a panel

In October 2024 Avride unveiled a four-wheeled model. IoT World Today reported that the six-wheel layout had no steering and braked one wheel to turn, which added friction and energy use. The new model shows animated eyes on an LED panel to look friendlier. Domus presented the panel as a way to make the robots seem more approachable in the city but carried no statement from the designers. According to NJBIZ, in August 2025 more than 100 Jersey City restaurants offered robot delivery, and 5 to 6 p.m. was the busiest hour. A company spokesperson said social media reaction was overwhelmingly positive and that the animated eyes were a favorite. Reuters reported that Ohio State now relies exclusively on robot deliveries. When the campuses were pulled, Toby Snuggs, who led sales at Yandex’s self-driving group, said the project had been having a positive impact on students and called its end a real shame. We found no independent user study or design award.

Back on campus under a new name and owner

Yandex Rover started in Russia and entered US campuses, but the campus business stopped when the Grubhub partnership ended in 2022. The international side of Yandex’s self-driving business was later separated as Avride and gained Uber Eats and new investors. The robot changed too, from six wheels to four, with LED eyes serving as a face. The company cited efficiency for the new wheel layout and friendliness for the animated eyes. Ohio State deliveries, stopped in 2022, restarted with the same Grubhub in 2025, after the name and ownership had changed.

When the parent company and the name change, how much of the trust that partners and users built stays with the robot?

What we haven’t confirmed

• How many robots operate today and where (the latest date we confirmed is October 2025)
• Cumulative deliveries (reports from August 2023 and January 2025 give the same 200,000)
• Grubhub’s own explanation of why it ended the partnership, and the company’s account of how the Rover model led to today’s Avride robots
• We found no public design intent or evaluation (why Rover’s form was chosen, design awards, outside expert reviews)