Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Delivery robots take over Chicago sidewalks

blockclubchicago.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 176 posts

Re: Delivery robots take over Chicago sidewalks

#161

Post by imtringued »

genericuser256 wrote: post #106
sleepyguy wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These robots would be a significant improvement over the current electric bike and scooter riders who not only drive recklessly on the roads but also take over the sidewalks. The situation has become lawless in the city, with many delivery drivers disregarding traffic rules entirely, they are a menace to pedestrians and vehicle drivers. I would like the city council to outlaw fast food delivery entirely, accept for t…

They are frustrating to be sure, especially the moped versions, but are imo still far better to be around then drivers. I'd much rather the bike lanes to be together and throttled ebikes moved to the road, but it wouldn't make near as much a difference as getting people to not run reds or put down their phones.

Why should E-Bikes limited to 25km/h share the road with cars driving at the 50km/h speed limit just because the bicycle is electric?

Re: Delivery robots take over Chicago sidewalks

#162

Post by johnfn »

dmz73 wrote: post #63
johnfn wrote: post #33

> “Chicago sidewalks are for people, not delivery robots.” This seems to be a false dichotomy. Isn't it obvious that if there weren't robots, there would be people delivering your food instead? And as a biker, I actually find delivery drivers to be quite dangerous. They are constantly blocking the bike lane, forcing me to drive into traffic -- or they are riding their extremely heavy and fast bikes dangerously throug…

As a pedestrian I find cyclist are worse than cars for obstructing my path. Riding on the footpath (illegal here) even with bike lane available right next to it, not respectig the traffic lights (mowing through pedestrians on crossings or blocking pedestrian crossings when stopped on red light), parking by blocking the footpath (must leave 1.5m of footpath unobstructed), riding the wrong way through traffic, flying d…

Then you surely are in favor of allowing them to be replaced with robots?

Re: Delivery robots take over Chicago sidewalks

#163

Post by phil21 »

enobrev wrote: post #49
itsdesmond wrote: post #15

I live in a Chicago neighborhood where these are in use. They have very bright lights, actually blinding you as you approach one at night. They move much faster than is appropriate on a sidewalk. They position themselves in the middle of the sidewalk as opposed to the right hand side, impacting traffic in both directions. They round corners at intersections at below-eye-level, I’ve walked into more than one when they…

I had this exact same experience in ravenswood this weekend. I was walking to breakfast and one of these bots was blocking the entirety of the shoveled part of the sidewalk. I had to make may way into the snow to inch around the bot just so I could continue to use the sidewalk. I had guessed it was stopped because it came to an unshoveled portion of the sidewalk. If it can't traverse that, it's not made for this city…

> I had guessed it was stopped because it came to an unshoveled portion of the sidewalk. If it can't traverse that, it's not made for this city

Have them partner with the city and collect evidence of unshoveled sidewalks. Automatically issue fines based off the collected video evidence.

This is one of those things where if these bots cannot traverse a section of sidewalk, many with mobility issues cannot either. And it's endemic to the city.

In my neighborhood there are $5m+ houses that literally never shovel their sidewalk the entire year, as well as a few businesses on "main drag" retail corridors. Fines for this have become exceptionally rare to non existent.

Re: Delivery robots take over Chicago sidewalks

#164

Post by phil21 »

miltonlost wrote: post #41
yieldcrv wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are solved problems in other cities All anyone has to do is look across the land

How are these solved problems when robot deliveries on sidewalks are a new phenomenon? Also, what other cities?

My wife is nearing 40 and she had these things delivering food at her midwestern college town back when she was still in school.

Limited rollout and obviously an ideal environment, but these things are nowhere near new.

Re: Delivery robots take over Chicago sidewalks

#165

Post by alistairSH »

egypturnash wrote: post #135
derektank wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, depending on the speed of these vehicles, it seems like bike lanes are the appropriate place for them. A smart city could even offer companies an opportunity to fund the buildout of additional bike lanes if there aren’t any existing in the neighborhood in question

A slow-ass cooler-sized wheely boy filling up the entire bike lane and stopping randomly, that'll be super safe for cyclists, yep. On the bright side maybe some of them will get knocked into traffic by people who don't bother looking for bicycles coming up behind them when they open their car door, never mind low-riding bots that are much harder to see.

These things aren’t small. More visible than small dogs or children.

https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ht-M!,f_auto,q_auto:...

Re: Delivery robots take over Chicago sidewalks

#167

Post by card_zero »

whyenot wrote: post #68
crote wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine how much better for the environment it'd be if your delivery was brought to you via a human-powered bicycle. Or as an in-between: e-bikes and e-mopeds. Using 2,000lb vehicles for last-mile burrito delivery is a "we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas" scenario. Delivery robots are an improvement because literally anything is.

Why are you assuming that a human would be more efficient and better for the environment than an electrically powered robot? It is very inefficient (approx 25%) to use food as an energy source, and humans are always burning energy. They can't turn off at night or when they are idle. I think it is very likely that the robot would be better for the environment than the person.

Which is the cheaper power source per mile, I wonder? Electricity or bananas?

Re: Delivery robots take over Chicago sidewalks

#168

Post by Sabinus »

pirates wrote: post #12
mindcandy wrote: post #3

“About half of all food deliveries globally are shorter than 2 and a half miles, which basically means that all of our cities are filled with burrito taxis” There is a future where a city's burrito taxis are replaced with drones rolling on the sidewalk or flying to the rooftops. And, the large majority of the remaining city drivers are replaced by robotaxis with multi-sensor 360 tracking. Where there are nearly zero…

Yes in fact I do hate the idea of dozens to hundreds of drones per day flying around my house and neighborhood.

There are thousands of vehicles moving around your house and neighbourhood already. The vast majority of them are large enough to kill you, and emit fumes that poison you and the atmosphere.

Cities will have lots of drone deliveries in them in the future. And it'll be more safe and economical than the current situation.

Re: Delivery robots take over Chicago sidewalks

#170

Post by Sabinus »

Izkata wrote: post #91
crooked-v wrote: post #6

I feel like part of this is people not being comfortable with the idea that they don't have to be deferent to the robots (i.e. do what you want, it will avoid you). That's perfectly understandable (nobody wants to walk in front a moving industrial robots), but is something these companies will have to work on if they want people comfortable around their bots.

> (i.e. do what you want, it will avoid you) The one I encountered a week ago, when I and another person got near it, it stopped moving. You have to go around them, and there's no way to get them out of the way if they're blocking something aside from leaving and hoping they start moving again.

That sounds like a behaviour that the company can adjust. Just have it move as far as it can to the side when passing a human.
Post reply on HN