Serve Robotics, whose autonomous delivery robots have delighted and infuriated West Hollywood in equal measure, debuted its newest model to the public last week.
The upgraded bots are larger, capable of carrying items like flat pizzas, and can travel twice as fast. They are able to cover double the distance on a single battery charge. They’ll also have improved water resistance and better braking systems to avoid collisions. Another perk? They are predicted to cost about half as much as their predecessors to manufacture.
The new robots will hit streets next year.
“This is the most rugged and high-performing robot we’ve ever created,” said Euan Abraham, the company’s chief hardware and manufacturing officer.
The city’s disabled community and mobility advocates have decried the presence of delivery robots on city streets, claiming they force pedestrians out of the way, impede vehicle traffic and add to the hazards created by scooters on the sidewalks. The robots are apparently the only motorized mobility device allowed to roam on the sidewalks.
Larger robots that can travel even faster seem destined to exacerbate tensions with WeHo humans on foot.
Delivery robots can’t recognize sirens.
I watched two fire trucks suddenly halt as delivery robots slowly made their way in a crosswalk. They were hidden by cars which had pulled over, until they reached the one open lane.
Halting fire trucks for even a single minute is a clear failure of robot design and lack of institutional oversight.
The robots and their contents are expendable.
But possible collateral damage is not. Robot parts smashing into adjacent cars is an avoidable waste of time, insurance settlements and property.
Your caveat underneath the photo made me laugh.
Just goes to show you that you can’t take anything for granted.
😀
Now you know the reason having ADA compliant sidewalks on Fountain are, after 40 years of being a city, suddenly so very vital.
These robots are so much safer and more efficient than delivery drivers who are often distracted and park illegally all the time.
They should use Waymo cars for deliveries instead.
It would be really great (and journalistic like) to have a definitive photo of this machine. To scale, etc..
God help us. No!
Personally I think these are great. The delivery drivers in the city double park, blocking full lanes and increasing traffic issues. They also produce far more greenhouse emissions per delivery. I like how to robots don’t have to sit blocking sidewalks like the scooters do (can’t stand the scooters). Ultimately I think they are a positive. As long as they have fail safes to prevent them from running into humans/dogs and aren’t blocking sidewalks (automatically get over to let humans/dogs pass), I don’t see an issue.
It cracks me up that those supporting the Fountain makeover keep stating it’s because the sidewalks aren’t ADA compliant and it will be safer. How are scooters, bikes and now these robots whizzing up and down sidewalks not serious safety issues when it comes to those who may need a wide berth traversing our sidewalks? Start with enforcement and then we can talk about Fountain, but until then the city council is contradicting itself by allowing all this sidewalk congestion while barking about the Fountain issues.
And hotdog carts filling the sidewalks at night. Try to get past without getting burnt and smoked out.
John Erickson keeps talking about ADA compliance and widening the sidewalks on Fountain for equal access…yet not only is he not doing anything about robots and scooters…now he is allowing companies to put in even bigger ones to take up our sidewalk space and put our pedestrians in jeopardy! Vote him out!!!
Exactly! Total hypocrite and totally self-serving.
Um, great, but nobody wants those $#@! annoying regular-size robots. Enough of this b.s. Now we know why nobody walks in L.A. It’s because there’s no more safe space on our sidewalks!