Cities are looking for creative ways to regulate food delivery robots, in some cases putting them to work gathering data for ADA compliance or collecting revenue for sidewalk maintenance.
As delivery robots proliferate on U.S. sidewalks, some cities are taking the initiative to regulate them — and make them pay for their use of public sidewalks.
As Maylin Tu explains in Next City, West Hollywood may be the first city to include annual fees and penalties for ADA and geofencing violations in its license agreement for delivery robots. The agreement requires operators to share advertising revenue with the city, funds it will use for accessibility improvements. "It’s still too early to tell how much the new program will raise for sidewalks, but a December report estimates it could generate $40,000 to $80,000 per year."
Other cities are using the robots to collect data about where accessibility improvements are needed to speed up ADA compliance. "In the future, sidewalk bots could serve as pedestrian guinea pigs, flagging issues to cities or even changing conditions in real-time. In Helinski, Coco is partnering with Swarco, a traffic light company, to track the number of pedestrians waiting at intersections."
FULL STORY: Could Delivery Robots Help Pay For Better City Sidewalks?
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