diff --git a/selfdrive/athena/athenad.py b/selfdrive/athena/athenad.py
index d196926611..adfa8673f4 100755
--- a/selfdrive/athena/athenad.py
+++ b/selfdrive/athena/athenad.py
@@ -56,6 +56,28 @@ UploadItem = namedtuple('UploadItem', ['path', 'url', 'headers', 'created_at', '
 cur_upload_items = {}
 
 
+class UploadQueueCache():
+  params = Params()
+
+  @staticmethod
+  def initialize(upload_queue):
+    try:
+      upload_queue_json = UploadQueueCache.params.get("AthenadUploadQueue")
+      if upload_queue_json is not None:
+        for item in json.loads(upload_queue_json):
+          upload_queue.put(UploadItem(**item))
+    except Exception:
+      cloudlog.exception("athena.UploadQueueCache.initialize.exception")
+
+  @staticmethod
+  def cache(upload_queue):
+    try:
+      items = [i._asdict() for i in upload_queue.queue if i.id not in cancelled_uploads]
+      UploadQueueCache.params.put("AthenadUploadQueue", json.dumps(items))
+    except Exception:
+      cloudlog.exception("athena.UploadQueueCache.cache.exception")
+
+
 def handle_long_poll(ws):
   end_event = threading.Event()
 
@@ -111,6 +133,7 @@ def upload_handler(end_event):
 
     try:
       cur_upload_items[tid] = upload_queue.get(timeout=1)._replace(current=True)
+
       if cur_upload_items[tid].id in cancelled_uploads:
         cancelled_uploads.remove(cur_upload_items[tid].id)
         continue
@@ -120,6 +143,7 @@ def upload_handler(end_event):
           cur_upload_items[tid] = cur_upload_items[tid]._replace(progress=cur / sz if sz else 1)
 
         _do_upload(cur_upload_items[tid], cb)
+        UploadQueueCache.cache(upload_queue)
       except (requests.exceptions.Timeout, requests.exceptions.ConnectionError, requests.exceptions.SSLError) as e:
         cloudlog.warning(f"athena.upload_handler.retry {e} {cur_upload_items[tid]}")
 
@@ -131,6 +155,8 @@ def upload_handler(end_event):
             current=False
           )
           upload_queue.put_nowait(item)
+          UploadQueueCache.cache(upload_queue)
+
           cur_upload_items[tid] = None
 
           for _ in range(RETRY_DELAY):
@@ -248,6 +274,7 @@ def uploadFileToUrl(fn, url, headers):
   item = item._replace(id=upload_id)
 
   upload_queue.put_nowait(item)
+  UploadQueueCache.cache(upload_queue)
 
   return {"enqueued": 1, "item": item._asdict()}
 
@@ -280,8 +307,7 @@ def startLocalProxy(global_end_event, remote_ws_uri, local_port):
 
     cloudlog.debug("athena.startLocalProxy.starting")
 
-    params = Params()
-    dongle_id = params.get("DongleId").decode('utf8')
+    dongle_id = Params().get("DongleId").decode('utf8')
     identity_token = Api(dongle_id).get_token()
     ws = create_connection(remote_ws_uri,
                            cookie="jwt=" + identity_token,
@@ -525,6 +551,7 @@ def backoff(retries):
 def main():
   params = Params()
   dongle_id = params.get("DongleId", encoding='utf-8')
+  UploadQueueCache.initialize(upload_queue)
 
   ws_uri = ATHENA_HOST + "/ws/v2/" + dongle_id
   api = Api(dongle_id)
diff --git a/selfdrive/athena/tests/helpers.py b/selfdrive/athena/tests/helpers.py
index 831b668297..26655b4a37 100644
--- a/selfdrive/athena/tests/helpers.py
+++ b/selfdrive/athena/tests/helpers.py
@@ -50,18 +50,28 @@ class MockApi():
 
 
 class MockParams():
-  def __init__(self):
-    self.params = {
-      "DongleId": b"0000000000000000",
-      "GithubSshKeys": b"ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQC307aE+nuHzTAgaJhzSf5v7ZZQW9gaperjhCmyPyl4PzY7T1mDGenTlVTN7yoVFZ9UfO9oMQqo0n1OwDIiqbIFxqnhrHU0cYfj88rI85m5BEKlNu5RdaVTj1tcbaPpQc5kZEolaI1nDDjzV0lwS7jo5VYDHseiJHlik3HH1SgtdtsuamGR2T80q1SyW+5rHoMOJG73IH2553NnWuikKiuikGHUYBd00K1ilVAK2xSiMWJp55tQfZ0ecr9QjEsJ+J/efL4HqGNXhffxvypCXvbUYAFSddOwXUPo5BTKevpxMtH+2YrkpSjocWA04VnTYFiPG6U4ItKmbLOTFZtPzoez private"  # noqa: E501
-    }
+  default_params = {
+    "DongleId": b"0000000000000000",
+    "GithubSshKeys": b"ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQC307aE+nuHzTAgaJhzSf5v7ZZQW9gaperjhCmyPyl4PzY7T1mDGenTlVTN7yoVFZ9UfO9oMQqo0n1OwDIiqbIFxqnhrHU0cYfj88rI85m5BEKlNu5RdaVTj1tcbaPpQc5kZEolaI1nDDjzV0lwS7jo5VYDHseiJHlik3HH1SgtdtsuamGR2T80q1SyW+5rHoMOJG73IH2553NnWuikKiuikGHUYBd00K1ilVAK2xSiMWJp55tQfZ0ecr9QjEsJ+J/efL4HqGNXhffxvypCXvbUYAFSddOwXUPo5BTKevpxMtH+2YrkpSjocWA04VnTYFiPG6U4ItKmbLOTFZtPzoez private",  # noqa: E501
+    "AthenadUploadQueue": '[]'
+  }
+  params = default_params.copy()
+
+  @staticmethod
+  def restore_defaults():
+    MockParams.params = MockParams.default_params.copy()
 
   def get(self, k, encoding=None):
-    ret = self.params.get(k)
+    ret = MockParams.params.get(k)
     if ret is not None and encoding is not None:
       ret = ret.decode(encoding)
     return ret
 
+  def put(self, k, v):
+    if k not in MockParams.params:
+      raise KeyError(f"key: {k} not in MockParams")
+    MockParams.params[k] = v
+
 
 class MockWebsocket():
   def __init__(self, recv_queue, send_queue):
diff --git a/selfdrive/athena/tests/test_athenad.py b/selfdrive/athena/tests/test_athenad.py
index 5bf34d1bc7..d96e32abc2 100755
--- a/selfdrive/athena/tests/test_athenad.py
+++ b/selfdrive/athena/tests/test_athenad.py
@@ -21,19 +21,22 @@ from selfdrive.athena.athenad import MAX_RETRY_COUNT, dispatcher
 from selfdrive.athena.tests.helpers import MockWebsocket, MockParams, MockApi, EchoSocket, with_http_server
 from cereal import messaging
 
+
 class TestAthenadMethods(unittest.TestCase):
   @classmethod
   def setUpClass(cls):
     cls.SOCKET_PORT = 45454
+    athenad.Params = MockParams
     athenad.ROOT = tempfile.mkdtemp()
     athenad.SWAGLOG_DIR = swaglog.SWAGLOG_DIR = tempfile.mkdtemp()
-    athenad.Params = MockParams
     athenad.Api = MockApi
     athenad.LOCAL_PORT_WHITELIST = set([cls.SOCKET_PORT])
 
   def setUp(self):
+    MockParams.restore_defaults()
     athenad.upload_queue = queue.Queue()
     athenad.cur_upload_items.clear()
+    athenad.cancelled_uploads.clear()
 
     for i in os.listdir(athenad.ROOT):
       p = os.path.join(athenad.ROOT, i)
@@ -249,6 +252,26 @@ class TestAthenadMethods(unittest.TestCase):
     items = dispatcher["listUploadQueue"]()
     self.assertEqual(len(items), 0)
 
+  def test_upload_queue_persistence(self):
+    item1 = athenad.UploadItem(path="_", url="_", headers={}, created_at=int(time.time()), id='id1')
+    item2 = athenad.UploadItem(path="_", url="_", headers={}, created_at=int(time.time()), id='id2')
+
+    athenad.upload_queue.put_nowait(item1)
+    athenad.upload_queue.put_nowait(item2)
+
+    # Ensure cancelled items are not persisted
+    athenad.cancelled_uploads.add(item2.id)
+
+    # serialize item
+    athenad.UploadQueueCache.cache(athenad.upload_queue)
+
+    # deserialize item
+    athenad.upload_queue.queue.clear()
+    athenad.UploadQueueCache.initialize(athenad.upload_queue)
+
+    self.assertEqual(athenad.upload_queue.qsize(), 1)
+    self.assertDictEqual(athenad.upload_queue.queue[-1]._asdict(), item1._asdict())
+
   @mock.patch('selfdrive.athena.athenad.create_connection')
   def test_startLocalProxy(self, mock_create_connection):
     end_event = threading.Event()
diff --git a/selfdrive/common/params.cc b/selfdrive/common/params.cc
index a405d21609..f0508cace0 100644
--- a/selfdrive/common/params.cc
+++ b/selfdrive/common/params.cc
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ private:
 std::unordered_map<std::string, uint32_t> keys = {
     {"AccessToken", CLEAR_ON_MANAGER_START | DONT_LOG},
     {"AthenadPid", PERSISTENT},
+    {"AthenadUploadQueue", PERSISTENT},
     {"BootedOnroad", CLEAR_ON_MANAGER_START | CLEAR_ON_IGNITION_OFF},
     {"CalibrationParams", PERSISTENT},
     {"CarBatteryCapacity", PERSISTENT},