Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd. announced the acquisition of Infermove, a Chinese AI robotics company, marking an important strategic move by the Southeast Asian ride-hailing and delivery giant in the artificial intelligence robotics sector. The acquisition aims to enhance Grab's automated delivery capabilities for both the “first mile” and “last mile” of logistics operations.
Founded by Aaron Lu in a Santa Clara garage in California in early 2021, Infermove later established offices in Beijing and Suzhou, China, focusing on research and development (R&D) as well as manufacturing. As a startup specializing in autonomous driving systems for unstructured environments and mobile manipulation robots, its product portfolio includes sidewalk delivery robots with upper-limb manipulation capabilities and personal mobility robots.
Leveraging driving data from non-motorized vehicles such as delivery riders' electric scooters, Infermove is training mobile robots capable of adapting to complex real-world physical environments. Through simulation learning, reinforcement learning technologies and self-developed end-to-end algorithms, the company enables robots to exhibit human-like operational capabilities in complex last-mile delivery scenarios. Its proprietary “Rider Shadow System” allows crowdsourced collection of robot training data using last-mile mobility devices such as electric wheelchairs and riders' electric scooters, solving the industry-wide challenges of slow, expensive data acquisition and over-reliance on simulated or performance data in embodied intelligence.
Founder Aaron Lu was recently named to the “2025 Forbes 100 Most Influential Chinese Elites” list, reflecting international recognition of his technological innovation and business leadership. Some earlier reports noted that Mr Lu holds several advanced degrees in biomedical engineering, economics and computer science from Harvard and other top US universities.
Prior to founding Infermove, Mr. Lu led the fully autonomous driving program at Silicon Valley-based AutoX (now renamed Tessar Auto), overseeing the R&D, validation, and regulatory approval of the company's first fully autonomous robotaxi product. In July 2020, he led the team to successfully develop the second L4-level autonomous taxi approved for fully driverless operation on public roads in California, US, second only to Alphabet's Waymo.
Despite its relatively short operating history, Infermove has achieved rapid progress in commercialization. Currently, its Carry series of robots has partnered with major delivery platforms in China, including Meituan, Alibaba's Ele.me, Sam's Club and JD.com's Dada.
Additionally, the company has set up pilot projects with local corporate customers in overseas markets such as Singapore, Japan and Australia.
Grab Chief Technology Officer Suthen Thomas announced the acquisition of Infermove to the entire company during a global all-hands meeting in December, a source at Grab's Beijing office said.
During the meeting, Mr. Thomas showcased several of Infermov's latest robot products, saying that the company's technology and commercialization progress in embodied delivery robots was impressive. He said that following the completion of the acquisition, Infirmov will continue to operate as an independent entity under its original team, with Mr Lu reporting directly to him as the lead founder.
The acquisition represents a significant step in Grab's efforts to advance automation within its expanding delivery and mobility network in Southeast Asia and beyond. Amid rising labor costs and continued growth in on-demand delivery demand, robotics technology and artificial intelligence have become key drivers to increase service reliability and maintain profit margins.
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