Can I just put a vending machine on wheels, park it in front of people's homes, and raise a 100M to replace convenience stores?
I don't know anything about the delivery robots roaming the streets and discussed in this article, but it's possible to build fully autonomous delivery robots. I guess in a robot like these, one might have to have more human monitoring, since they could get stolen or damaged, block traffic or prevent wheelchair users from using curb cuts, etc. But, if any of them are outsourcing the actual routine driving and delivery to people, even people in low-pay locations, they'll eventually be beaten by someone who isn't. There's no reason for a human to be driving robots at this point.
What? The washing machine was so effective at saving labor that it's widely considered a major driver of gender equality: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washing_machine
We're making it more and more normal to completely avoid interacting with each other and having service be something we cherish, I think this is hugely detrimental to society.
I remember they proudly published their THREE robots delivered successfully 130 orders over 4 months period since trial started in December 2025, even over one month it would be less than two orders per day per robot, over 4 months the number is a bad joke, not even one order or day.
https://www.lupa.cz/aktuality/autonomnich-rozvazkovych-robot...
Though now they are planning sweeping robots which seems like much better use of robots doing something useful beneficial to everyone, not only to bunch of lazy hipsters.
But overall they support unhealthy lifestyle, they deliver food (at least here in Europe they seem to be used only for food) only over short distance where client could easily and faster just pick up their own food, if they don't wanna dine in or prepare their food at home (in advance).
We have already problems with stupid drivers parking their cars or even driving their cars on sidewalk, we don't need another obstruction.
Pervasive delivery service is a huge quality of life improvement for a variety of disabled folks and folks who are homebound for whatever reason.
And, the alternative to these robots is exactly this:
"We have already problems with stupid drivers parking their cars or even driving their cars on sidewalk"
The alternative is not, actually, that everyone will walk to go pick up their food. It's either a gig worker, almost certainly in a car, probably a gas-driven car, or a little electric robot. It's usually a choice between more cars on the road or more robots on the sidewalk. I used to get deliveries by bike, sometimes, and that's also cool, but pretty rare outside of particularly dense cities.
I don't actually have any objection to their use being limited/regulated in some areas if they're disruptive for pedestrians. But, consider what they replace, and whether they're worse or better. (You may come down on the side of "worse", and I won't argue with you. In some places, they probably are.)
CTRL + f : "suv"
0 matches
"truck" ?
0 matches
I stopped reading past that. That level of carbrain is intolerable. If you think light vehicles capped at 25km/h is an issue idk what to tell you. At least with delivery robots people don't have to take a one ton metal box everywhere with them just to get groceries because they live in a poorly designed car-centric city.
So calm your tits.
Your comment is irrelevant otherwise because last time I checked cars are the real problem, and concerns over e bikes / delivery bots is just another lame extension of “safetyism” and ignorance around public transport failures that just misses the mark.
“Riding in traffic” is half the issue here. Like trying to explain water to fish.
A friend of mine spent a week in the hospital recently after crashing his new e-bike almost immediately after buying it. One interpretation of his accident is that he didn't have some of the right instincts for riding a bicycle at that speed.
I don't actually have a clear sense of the breakdown of risk attributable to the different factors of lack of appropriate cycling infrastructure, lack of appropriate rider training or experience, lack of appropriate rider expectations, or inherent safety or stability problems of some designs. My friend whom I mentioned above said his doctors told him that they had been seeing a lot of patients who'd crashed e-bikes (as well as electric mopeds and electric skateboards) at speeds that produced fairly serious injuries.
Something I think a lot about when it comes to e-bikes, is the level of protective gear people feel they ought to wear on "a bike". Not all cyclists even wear helmets (obviously bad), but in addition to a helmet, on an e-bike you really ought to be wearing elbow and knee protection, purely because of the speed involved.
However, my sense is that people (a) don't think about that at all because they think of it as just like a bicycle, or (b) don't want travel with all of that extra gear. They want to treat an e-bike like a bicycle, when it is something much more.
I say all of this as a cyclist (non-e-bike) and rollerblader. On my bicycle I will just wear a helmet, but because of the particulars of rollerblading, I always wear elbow-pads and knee-pads. Differing circumstances require different adaptations.
Big trucks and SUVs are a much bigger problem. But that doesn't mean kids riding around on motorcycles isn't a problem either.
If that is truly what McNamara meant, it is very sloppy that they failed to say so.
EDIT: For anyone downvoting me, I am respecting the text of the article, because that is what most people will read. Most people will not see olyjohn's caveats and context (which again, I agree represent the real problem).
> At least with delivery robots people don't have to take a one ton metal box everywhere with them just to get groceries because they live in a poorly designed car-centric city.
Robots are not needed and do not enhance grocery delivery. The ones I've seen aren't large enough for a grocery order. I suppose it would be entertaining to see a line of them proceeding to a delivery.
But those are posthoc rationalizations i just seem to hate them and i cant really explain why.
Our cities already deemphasize people being out and about in public spaces, so car-centric, and this is an entirely intolerable insult to injury.
They further alienate folks from jobs in their community, they exacerbate the already artificial friction of just walking to a restaurant and being present in your community.
It represents an impressive amount of awful in a tiny cube.
Isn't this a solution to that though as the delivery would otherwise be made by a human in a car. I don't have these robots in my area, but I do have the Walmart delivery drones. Those are interesting to watch. A neighbor recently had a delivery by two drones where one approached within seconds of the first recovering the cradle before moving into the same spot. To the point that I was left wondering if the drones have self co-ordination abilities to know a fellow drone is already in place, or if the timing of the system was just right to avoid collision. Either way, I find the constant drone sound of them zipping by annoying. I'm a 10 minute walk from their base, so they are pretty constant.
No, it does the direct opposite. It makes it worse for humans to walk. It actually makes it better for non-delivery humans to take a car, because there's less delivery drivers on the road.
Improving car-centrism would be the exact opposite. It would improve the human walking experience and degrade the human driving experience.
And now you have to share it with someone’s private burrito transport.
How are light weight vehicles more efficient than trucks? That’s such a broad statement with absolutely no data provided to back it up. Efficiency matters a lot depending on the context. Delivering 40,000 kg of good cross country? Even a diesel truck is going to be more efficient than 10k little robot. Last mile delivery? Yes, obviously it’s not good to send a semi trailer to deliver a pizza.
The point is, those big fat trucks aren’t just there to annoy you, they are doing something pretty useful.