'We had to get out of the way': The backlash over delivery robots • Hacker News Board

Re: 'We had to get out of the way': The backlash over delivery robots

#91

Post by _doctor_love » Sun, Jun 21, 2026, 8:33 PM UTC

_doctor_love wrote: post #49

solid_fuel wrote: post #4

I have a friend who uses a wheelchair and he hates encountering these things in the wild. I know there's a couple different companies making these things and I'm not sure if they all behave like this, but they take up the whole sidewalk and won't backup or turn to get out of the way. Instead they just sit there blinking and beeping at my friend, and of course in a wheelchair it's not easy (or safe!) to go over the cu…

I worry that some enterprising person representing the delivery companies will find a way to make it so that if humans in wheelchairs block the path of the robots, then it's the humans who will have to yield. It makes me think of that scene from The Man In The High Castle - "drag on the state."

Note for the downvoters: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/20/us/politics/special-educa...

Gee, yeah, not an ill-founded worry at all. Wake the fuck up.

Re: 'We had to get out of the way': The backlash over delivery robots

#92

Post by 627467 » Sun, Jun 21, 2026, 11:57 PM UTC

Someone is going to argue that a public path is open to all including delibery robots but:

- its not really about whether delivery robots are "anyone" who deserves the right to compete for a public good nor

- whether any private entity has the right to make unexpected "efficient" use of a public good.

The robot is closer to litter placed on a sidewalk by someone else than a delivery person working for the same company. Act accordingly.

If you're doordash/waymo/etc it's your job to teach your moving box to respect other people on public paths

Re: 'We had to get out of the way': The backlash over delivery robots

#93

Post by Sabinus » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 12:50 AM UTC

eloisius wrote: post #50

xnx wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> won't backup or turn to get out of the way. This seems surprising. As far as I know all these carts are controlled remotely in real time.

Remote controlled by people in faraway LCOL places where they may not understand or be trained on Western disability norms, but are certainly incentivized by how many deliveries they complete.

The same issues exist for platform moderation. Often they're complex decisions on divisive topics, delegated to people outside the culture with little training, time, or incentive to make wise judgements.

Re: 'We had to get out of the way': The backlash over delivery robots

#94

Post by wffurr » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 11:50 AM UTC

Hizonner wrote: post #89

wffurr wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Stealing" as in having a public process for proposed street designs that you can't be bothered to attend. "There is never anybody in this bike lanes" you don't see them because they aren't stuck in traffic like you. Also the city has to build out a full network of high quality bike facilities to convince a bunch of skeptics and scaredy cats to get out of their cars and enjoy life and actually get somewhere instead o…

There's this weird "bicyclist viewpoint" where the only acknowledged possible purpose of leaving your house appears to be to get your body to a different point within a relatively small area. Personally, if I go anywhere at all, I'm usually moving more cargo than I could move on a bicycle, and doing that is the whole purpose of the trip. Cargo or no, it's often to a place I could not practically reach on a bicycle. A…

Not sure where this icy, thunderstorm-prone city where it's either walk or drive with nothing in between is, but it's certainly pretty far outside my experience.

From what I've observed, the vast majority of car trips in my city could be easily replaced with a bicycle trip.

We would most certainly notice if the modest bicycle traffic in our city was replaced with car trips. The already terrible traffic would be significantly worse. "Stealing" some space for cars for a drastically more efficient means of transportation that's also 5-6 times faster than walking is a huge win both for people who want to get places reliably and on time and those of you who are always carrying cargo or can't cycle for some reason.

You wouldn't hear from me at all if it weren't for accusations like "stealing" space from cars (who in turn stole entire walkable city centers and streetcar lines!) and just made a little room for those of us who are able (which is most people!) to choose a healthy, efficient, humane form of transportation instead of hauling a 3 ton steel caged air-conditioned living room with armchairs and sofa on every trip.

Re: 'We had to get out of the way': The backlash over delivery robots

#95

Post by Grombobulous » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 12:02 PM UTC

rcxdude wrote: post #27

Grombobulous wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really don’t understand how a four wheeled self-driving powered vehicle is allowed to drive on the sidewalk when riding a bicycle on the sidewalk in that same city is illegal.

Probably under the same regulations that allow a powered wheelchair on the sidewalk. A low maximum speed makes up for a lot of things. But they should have a plan for encountering a wheelchair user.

Perhaps, but I imagine those regulations are written around an actual person being involved.

Re: 'We had to get out of the way': The backlash over delivery robots

#96

Post by Hizonner » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 1:32 PM UTC

wffurr wrote: post #94

Hizonner wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's this weird "bicyclist viewpoint" where the only acknowledged possible purpose of leaving your house appears to be to get your body to a different point within a relatively small area. Personally, if I go anywhere at all, I'm usually moving more cargo than I could move on a bicycle, and doing that is the whole purpose of the trip. Cargo or no, it's often to a place I could not practically reach on a bicycle. A…

Not sure where this icy, thunderstorm-prone city where it's either walk or drive with nothing in between is, but it's certainly pretty far outside my experience. From what I've observed, the vast majority of car trips in my city could be easily replaced with a bicycle trip. We would most certainly notice if the modest bicycle traffic in our city was replaced with car trips. The already terrible traffic would be signi…

> Not sure where this icy, thunderstorm-prone city where it's either walk or drive with nothing in between is, but it's certainly pretty far outside my experience.

Montreal. I think there've been three thunderstorms in the past week, none of which I would have predicted if I'd stepped outside a few hours beforehand. Yes, that's an unusual week, but I've been caught in storms often enough, and you can't build your routine around conditions you can't rely on.

And only absolute fanatics ride bicycles in the winter. Even though I think the facilities are pretty good.

> From what I've observed, the vast majority of car trips in my city could be easily replaced with a bicycle trip.

You observe people driving around in cars. You have no way to know where they're going, where else they've been or may be going on the next leg of the trip, what they're carrying, anything about their physical condition, or, well, anything other than that they're driving. Even if you did a formal "study", you wouldn't know if you were asking the right questions (not that the people doing "studies" usually even try).

Re: 'We had to get out of the way': The backlash over delivery robots

#97

Post by nisegami » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 3:25 PM UTC

lovich wrote: post #60

Grombobulous wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really don’t understand how a four wheeled self-driving powered vehicle is allowed to drive on the sidewalk when riding a bicycle on the sidewalk in that same city is illegal.

Because corporations have more rights than the common man and these robots are the property of corporations. If you as a regular person cause some sort of damage to a corporation you’ll be arrested and locked up while they determine the legality and if there was an actual illegal damage. If these corporations cause regular people problems then it’s “oopsies, you can sue us in court with your far smaller resources in…

The law protects but does not bind corporations while binding but not protecting individuals.

Re: 'We had to get out of the way': The backlash over delivery robots

#98

Post by stevenicr » Wed, Jun 24, 2026, 5:08 AM UTC

lesostep wrote: post #80

exmadscientist wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Robots that cannot share sidewalks with humans, including humans in wheelchairs, should be banned from sidewalks. Full stop. End of discussion. They can use the streets proper if they want to. I'm sure there is some way to formalize that using ADA sidewalk requirements or something similar.

There should be some some way to sue for unlawful restriction of access to public infrastructure. As far as I'm aware, you can't just put a border on a sidewalk. Bots that stop you from using sidewalk are essentially that. A border on a public infrastructure put there by some company.

close to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trespass_to_chattels ?

If blocking access to your store, your car, etc. this kicks in maybe.