One has recently entered into force Pennsylvania state law that gives autonomous delivery robots the right to operate on city sidewalks by classifying them as pedestrians. The law makes Pennsylvania (think) the twelfth US state to let these robots roam free around the cities.
Not everyone is a fan of these changes. The National Association of Urban Transportation Officials, for example, asks a “complete overhaul” of city streets to make the automation work.
Robot rights have expanded, at least in Pennsylvania
I autonomous robots for deliveries they will be able to maneuver on sidewalks, paths and roads because they are now technically considered "pedestrians". The relationship between autonomous vehicles and humans is evolving.
Limits currently allow one maximum speed of 19km / h in pedestrian areas, 40km / h on the road and a load limit of 250 kilos. Also in Virginia, Idaho, Florida, Wisconsin, Washington, DC, and 6 other second states Axios , delivery robots can legally share the road with people.
The advantages of autonomous delivery robots similar to pedestrians
The potential of these solutions is many. First of all, the potential reduction of large trucks. Heavy and potentially polluting vehicles, unsuitable for moving in crowded cities. There is also a potential reduction in the number of drivers needed to quickly deliver products people order online. And here is the working issue, the predictable vulnerability. This is why the National Association of City Transportation Officials has published a Blueprint for Autonomous Urbanism which calls for more thought about adding self-driving robots to the streets.
Automation without a comprehensive overhaul of how our streets are designed, allocated and shared will not result in substantial gains in safety, sustainability or equity
A (shareable) part of the report
It is not neoluddism
It's not about being against technology. San Francisco, one of the most “tech friendly” cities in the world, even has in 2017 Most sidewalk robots prohibited. It takes a lot of artificial intelligence to ensure that robots (sorry, the “new pedestrians”) can safely navigate crowded streets.
Il Tamura Lab of Tohoku University in Japan has collected a list of factors that i autonomous vehicles as “new pedestrians” should consider when interacting with the “old pedestrians,” which would be us humans. For example, avoid "smartphone zombies" or people who walk while looking at a device. We need real “models of social force” to try to understand the intention of a human being: it can be truly unpredictable and change direction.
Also in 2017, MIT engineers created an autonomous robot that used a socially aware browsing, to teach the autonomous robot to basically follow “the same rules as everyone else” about personal space and walking. That's not why it's keeping these knee-high robots moving next to human pedestrians.
