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

21–30 of 176 posts

Re: Delivery robots take over Chicago sidewalks

#21

Post by boh »

crooked-v wrote: post #5
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…

Recently there's been a lot of anger in San Francisco about a Waymo (which have an excellent safety record with humans) killing an outdoor cat who that walked under the car and sat in front of a tire, when not long after someone was killed by a person backing into a crosswalk and it was a barely a blip on the radar.

The person who killed the bystander has social/legal/financial ramifications. Google had zero.

Anyone ever ask themselves why they have a knee-jerk impulse to support a billion dollar company's attempt at centralizing transportation?I'm sorry but safety and making your life easier isn't Silicon Valley's main concern.

Re: Delivery robots take over Chicago sidewalks

#22

Post by neom »

Toronto outright banned a startup I was helping out with in 2021, they ended up packing up and moving it to Miami- Toronto has a rule that the city should not be made more inaccessible to folks with disabilities, and that a delivery robot could potentially cause an accessibility issue on the sidewalk for blind or wheelchair using folks. They didn't reach out to the startup, or tell them about the vote happening at council, they did invite the accessibility advocacy groups in. I agree the startup should have been banned (against my own interests) pending a review, however, I also believe a review of the technology and startup would have left very little room for concern. That said, I'm still skeptical robots on sidewalks are a great idea, ideally they can operate on the roadways.

This issue is going to become an issue with AVs too, if availability is the value prop and number of vehicles creates the availability and there are no humans to drive, I presume we end up with another situation where sidewalks across the world were littered with thousands of those lime/bird scooter things.

https://www.therobotreport.com/toronto-city-council-votes-to...

Re: Delivery robots take over Chicago sidewalks

#23

Post by crote »

ElijahLynn wrote: post #2

Valid points by those concerned with taking over the sidewalks. I will also say, people riding electric scooters shouldn't be zooming along at 20mph (or pedal bikes) on sidewalks either, which are a true safety hazard. And on the other side, much better for our environment, to have a lighter weight robot delivering a burrito than a 2,000lb vehicle, in terms of net energy consumption/expenditure.

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.

Re: Delivery robots take over Chicago sidewalks

#24

Post by samlinnfer »

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…

This honestly would be solved quite quickly when the cost of vandalism starts eating into their margins. Once they piss enough people off it becomes self-correcting.

Re: Delivery robots take over Chicago sidewalks

#25

Post by goopypoop »

kiernanmcgowan wrote: post #14
glitcher wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pneumatic burrito tubes directly into my home is the future I want.

I’m working on a burrito artillery system. It’s the ideal form factor for high velocity chorizo but the delivery tends to make a mess.

the hungry will adapt

Re: Delivery robots take over Chicago sidewalks

#26

Post by yieldcrv »

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…

These are solved problems in other cities

All anyone has to do is look across the land

Re: Delivery robots take over Chicago sidewalks

#27

Post by janalsncm »

In another timeline, there are pneumatic tubes or underground trains routing to each building, negating the need for last mile delivery for most packages in dense urban areas. Adding these tunnels is probably too expensive now that the buildings are in place though.

Re: Delivery robots take over Chicago sidewalks

#28

Post by esafak »

jeffbee wrote: post #18
miltonlost wrote: post #16

These are a disability nightmare for folks in wheelchairs and scooters and even canes. They take up 75% of the sidewalk in normal sidewalk widths, let along narrower ones. In the snow, if sidewalks aren't shoveled well, this is even worse, as the traversable area is even narrower. Even being able-bodied it's more annoying than its worth to have to dodge these things.

These companies tried to start years ago in Berkeley but people wouldn't tolerate them and they always ended up flipped over in the road. Let it be known that I will not "dodge" something like this under any circumstances. Robots need to get out of the way and stay out of the way.

It is going to be an interesting sight when humanoid robots are let loose. They might not be inclined to stay out of your way. Rather the opposite.

Re: Delivery robots take over Chicago sidewalks

#29

Post by climb_stealth »

crote wrote: post #23
ElijahLynn wrote: post #2

Valid points by those concerned with taking over the sidewalks. I will also say, people riding electric scooters shouldn't be zooming along at 20mph (or pedal bikes) on sidewalks either, which are a true safety hazard. And on the other side, much better for our environment, to have a lighter weight robot delivering a burrito than a 2,000lb vehicle, in terms of net energy consumption/expenditure.

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.

God forbid someone would use their own two legs to walk and eat that burrito at the restaurant /s

The extend to which some people get food delivered is absurd. I'm sure there exceptions and reasons and everything, but seriously.

Re: Delivery robots take over Chicago sidewalks

#30

Post by wlesieutre »

kiernanmcgowan wrote: post #14
glitcher wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pneumatic burrito tubes directly into my home is the future I want.

I’m working on a burrito artillery system. It’s the ideal form factor for high velocity chorizo but the delivery tends to make a mess.

Have you looked into burrito parachutes?
Post reply on HN