Singapore: Southeast Asia's top ride-hailing and delivery firm, Grab, is planning to introduce 'Carri', a physical automation robot, to bridge the gap between digital intelligence and real-world logistics. Its group chief executive officer and co-founder, Anthony Tan, described Carri not as a replacement, but as a superhuman extension for Grab's delivery partners.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Tan stated that Grab's drivers often lose about 10 percent of their earning time looking for a restaurant in a big mall or waiting for their customers to come downstairs from large office towers. With Carri, the aim is to handle such tasks, allowing drivers to move to the next job more quickly. Tan emphasized that Carri would help partners not just survive the shifts in the world, but thrive in it. This announcement was made at Grab's annual product event, GrabX 2026.

In addition to robots, Tan mentioned plans to incorporate the intelligence layer into physical hardware to create autonomous vehicles and closed-circuit television cameras. This initiative could reaffirm Grab's commitment to being an AI-first, heart-led platform, ensuring AI benefits everyone, including underserved communities across Southeast Asia.

Tan highlighted the importance of taking the intelligence layer out of the cloud and onto the street. By doing so, Grab seeks to open up new avenues for helping partners solve problems through physical automation. At the previous GrabX event, Grab introduced 'MAI', its merchant AI assistant, and expanded its AI efforts with a driver AI assistant named 'Coach'.

Grab collaborated with OpenAI on Coach, and currently, over 500,000 drivers have this partner in their pockets. Tan expressed plans to roll this out to millions more, further solidifying Grab's drive towards integrating AI with real-world applications.