Amazon Begins Using 'Sidewalk Robots' In Seattle Delivery Tests (fortune.com)

An anonymous reader quotes Fortune: The future is now: Starting this week, Amazon is testing autonomous package delivery with adorable little robot vehicles in a northern Seattle suburb. Six of the Amazon Scouts, the company announced yesterday, are now delivering packages in Snohomish County in a trial run that complements its existing delivery options... The six-wheeled vehicles are fully electric and will move at "walking pace," for the time being only during daylight hours on weekdays while accompanied by Amazon employees for safety's sake.... [C]onsidering the drone delivery Prime Air program never got off the ground, Amazon Scout already seems like a more sensible solution to the last-mile problem: the time-intensive activity of getting packages from distribution centers to homes.

Wired points out some particular problems, though: "A delivery robot can't open gates without hands, and it can't climb steps to get right to your door. And if the robot requires the customer to enter a PIN to get the package out, how can the robot leave the package if you're not home?" And compared to the orderly structure of roads, sidewalks are pure chaos, with people, pets and objects sharing the space. Whether autonomous delivery vehicles are allowed to share the sidewalks varies by state and by city too; San Francisco has severely restricted them since 2017. Amazon's road test in Seattle may determine whether the delivery method finally arrives.

Comments

Re:KICK THEM INTO THE STREET.

[K. S. Kyosuke]

The robots are writing down your comments as we speak...

Private Taking of a Public Good

[Sir Holo]

Using robots to deliver packages via sidewalks is a private taking of a public good (sidewalk). It is illegal.

And for good reason. Just imagine the swarms of these things that could be in everyone's way –– these things that are motorized vehicles. Oh, most places, operating a motorized vehicle along a pedestrian right-of-way is illegal, too.

Neither of these will be enforced, unless a large group of individuals sues and wins.

Re:Private Taking of a Public Good

[Urinal Pube]

A human walking to their job is technically the same. The private business is using the public sidewalk to get their profit generating resources on site. Should this be outlawed also?

Re:Private Taking of a Public Good

[alvinrod]

Humans have used sidewalks to deliver goods forever. Was that private taking of a public good also illegal? You might have a point regarding the legality of operating a motorized vehicle on sidewalks, but if people find robotic deliveries convenient and desire them, they'll have no problem making an exception for robotic delivery vehicles.

Re:Private Taking of a Public Good

[Sir Holo]

Humans have used sidewalks to deliver goods forever. Was that private taking of a public good also illegal?

False dichotomy. The key term in my post was "robots," by which I meant "autonomous vehicles" using sidewalks. It is a different thing than a delivery person using the sidewalk.

People put up with FedEx/UPS parking in red parking zones all over cities, or at least the cops do; they do not let them drive or park on the sidewalk, as the delivery trucks are vehicles.

..., but if people find robotic deliveries convenient and desire them, they'll have no problem making an exception for robotic delivery vehicles.

Perhaps. There will be discussion. I was describing the situation as it stands today, not in some future year. In any case, the myriad ways people have posted destruction of those e-scooters, their taunting of autonomous cars, or shooting-down of drones gives us a glimpse on the likelihood of mass acceptance of delivery bots using sidewalks. It is low.

Re: Private Taking of a Public Good

[Sir Holo]

But the 1099 remote driver can get a dui

OK, that sounds plausible. Has this actually occurred somewhere?

Re:Private Taking of a Public Good

[yes-but-no]

vandalism? three strikes law

Re:Private Taking of a Public Good

[tlhIngan]

People put up with FedEx/UPS parking in red parking zones all over cities, or at least the cops do; they do not let them drive or park on the sidewalk, as the delivery trucks are vehicles.

Incorrect. Practical cops may choose to not ticket the vehicles, but delivery vehicles get ticketed on a regular basis. In general, because they're there for only a few minutes, it's not worth ticketing but if someone feels they are parked in a manner that is causing a danger to traffic or blocking the sidewalk causing pedestrians to spill out on the street, then it won't be overlooked. (And yes, they park on sidewalks all the time, though most park in such a way that it doesn't force pedestrians to walk into traffic)

And yes, these companies have procedures for dealing with tickets as well - it's often just the cost of doing business. I believe there was a big fuss one day when a cop ticketed an armored car for parking in a no-parking zone in order to do a pickup. The driver objected to the ticket in the press saying they needed to park there, but very little sympathy was had. (I'm sure everyone else who got a ticket in the area "needed to park there"). This was especially so after the armored car company said that they had procedures to deal with tickets (which usually just meant paying it off).

Re:Private Taking of a Public Good

[Anubis IV]

Using robots to deliver packages via sidewalks is a private taking of a public good (sidewalk). It is illegal.

How did this nonsense get modded up? Are you going to tell me that UPS and FedEx delivery trucks are illegal too because they drive on public roads? I imagine freight air transport or even passenger transport is illegal, since the airways are a publicly-owned resource?

Generally speaking, private companies can use public access. At worst, they made need a license to do so in the case of local ordinances.

Re: Private Taking of a Public Good

[bytestorm]

Trucks often pay a significant fee for their use of highways. This is necessary because a truck causes over a thousand times more road damage than a car. So yeah, that particular example is not so great. They should definitely be paying much, much more than cars to use public roadways.

Re: Private Taking of a Public Good

[Anubis IV]

Trucks often pay a significant fee for their use of highways.

Not unless it’s a tollway, they don’t.

FedEx trucks don’t get pulled over as they cross state or local boundaries to pay fees. They might get pulled over for inspections, and there may be fines for not abiding by regulations, and there may be taxes on the sale or ownership of vehicles in different jurisdictions, but no one is paying a usage fee for public highways. That isn’t a thing anywhere in the US. Nor is it illegal for them to be using public resources, which is what the OP was suggesting was the case.

bad idea

[PopeRatzo]

Does Amazon not understand how much people are going to fuck with these sidewalk robots? First, they'll be covered with gang graffiti in about five minutes, or festooned with sex toys. Local bands will cover them with stickers. Then, it will become a viral prank to kidnap these things with a panel van and steal their stuff and "customize" them. They will be hacked and used in public robot fights. Eventually, they'll be turned out and used for prostitution.

   

Re:bad idea

[alvinrod]

After reading this, I'm even more in favor of this idea. Public fights between dildo covered, graffiti strewn delivery bots sounds more fun than Chuck E. Cheese's on weed.

Re:bad idea

[PopeRatzo]

It’s simpler than that. You can completely disable it just by flipping it over.

That's absolutely no fun. I'm betting your friendly neighborhood ne'er-do-wells will find much more creative ways to fuck with those "sidewalk robots".

Griefing commences 3-2-1..

[DrXym]

These things are going to be smashed, kicked, set on fire, superglued, chewing gummed, cardboard boxed, tossed into dumpsters and all the rest. And even if they're unmolested they'll get stuck, get hit by vehicles, impede pedestrians, run through dogshit and generally be a nuisance. It won't be long before cities start taxing these things for using the sidewalk, and impounding them the way they do for scooters.

Knowing Bezos he's probably micromanaged all this and even if it saves him cents, he'll still do it.

Depends on sidewalk infrastructure

[mnemotronic]

What if there aren't sidewalks? In Columbia MD and nearby Ellicott City, there are entire neighborhoods without any sidewalks at all. I'm not talking trailer parks. These are upscale neighborhoods where the homes are worth $600K and up. I think the developer, James Rouse, had a vision where everyone had a car and drove to the shopping mall that was the "center" of the development. Trivia answer: actor Edward Norton is a grandson of James Rouse.

Re:Depends on sidewalk infrastructure

[reboot246]

Neighborhoods without sidewalks are actually the norm. In my line of work I've worked in a few hundred cities and towns, and worked in thousands of neighborhoods and subdivisions. Sidewalks are few and far between. Even when there are sidewalks, they're commonly so rough and out of shape that kids on tricycles and roller skates have a hard time using them.

I have no sidewalks in my neighborhood, or my previous neighborhood, or the one before that, or the one before that. We had one when I was a kid, but there was a high curb at each intersection. Not exactly wheel-friendly.

Sometimes I think people look out of their window and they imagine the whole world looks just like their little part of it.

Re:Depends on sidewalk infrastructure

[mnemotronic]

... Sometimes I think people look out of their window and they imagine the whole world looks just like their little part of it.

+1

lets see

[renegade600]

amazon is around a trillion dollar company. I will be walking down a street with one of those robots, maybe if it tripped me or run over my foot, I can get some of their cash...accidents happen :-)

"how can the robot leave the package if you're not

[LinuxIsGarbage]

"how can the robot leave the package if you're not home?"

I hate having purchases left unprotected on the doorstep. There's a lot of theft of parcels from doorsteps. Since like most people I work during the day, I prefer to have my purchases sent directly to a local post office for pickup. Then I don't need to worry about security, and just stop by on my way home from work.

I also prefer the post office over FedEx or UPS because if they do try to deliver to your house and you aren't there, they will leave a card directing you to the post office (that will be only a couple blocks away, and open till 9PM). Courier companies may pretend to try ringing, forget to leave a card, then you have to just know that you need to drive to the depot in the industrial park 45 minutes away to pick it up before 5PM when they close. You also have Amazon couriers, which like Uber drivers are underpaid, under-insured "contractors"

Similar: grocery delivery by robot car available

[doug141]

Rolling out in Arizona. https://www.washingtonpost.com...

They're illegal in San Francisco?

[mschuyler]

I can see why. They'd come back with their tires covered in human shit. Win/Win

Re:They're illegal in San Francisco?

[Hognoxious]

It's been a while since the last H1-B comment. Nice to revive an old tradition.

Re:"how can the robot leave the package if you're

[yes-but-no]

I am sure you can track online your package until you see the "Out for Delivery"; then likely there is a way for you to physically go and pick-up (when the item is not in the van and back at their office).
Also amazon has something called lockers (name?) where you can enter a code/PIN and get your item. If you are ready to do the driving, there must be many ways to get your package.

If they're calling them 'Scout'

[John.Banister]

then the robots ought to gently extend 30mm diameter rods from their bodies at intersections so as to help the elderly cross the street. Having delivery robots do automated vending to people having the app used at the Go stores has got to be part of the plan for their future.