Autonomous vehicles are gaining momentum in the on-demand delivery business. In a pilot program in San Francisco, Postmates has arranged with city officials to test sidewalk-roaming robots for fast store delivery to customer homes and offices.
On-demand delivery for grocery stores and restaurants has achieved the most traction in urban centers where many people do not have cars or want to avoid the gridlocked traffic. However, crossing busy city streets and navigating crowded sidewalks is challenging even for the most efficient delivery worker. What’s one advantage delivery robots have over humans? They won’t be taking coffee or snack breaks.
A TechCrunch article, excerpted below, covers the topic further:
On-demand delivery business Postmates says it’s been granted the first-ever permit for sidewalk robotics operations in the city of San Francisco.
According to San Francisco Public Works, the permits are active for 180 days and authorize the testing of up to three autonomous delivery devices. We’ve reached out to the Public Works department for comment.
Postmates has since 2017 been working alongside San Francisco supervisor Norman Yee and labor and advocacy groups to develop a framework for sidewalk robotics. The issuance of the permit makes San Francisco one of the first cities to formally allow companies to test autonomous delivery robots under a new pilot program.
Previously, companies were testing autonomous robots in various San Francisco streets sans permits, until the city voted to ban street robots from testing without official government permits, akin to the electric-scooter saga of 2018.
Overview by Raymond Pucci, Director, Merchant Services at Mercator Advisory Group