Company Seeks To Test Self-Driving Delivery Robots In DC

[HardOCP News]

I think self-driving delivery robots would be cool but I just don't think they would be practical. Maybe if you lived within a mile or two of where the robots are based but, other than that, I don't really see this taking off any time soon.

Two co-founders of Skype have created the company Starship Technologies to create these self-delivery robots that is designed to roll down the sidewalk and navigate stop signs and red lights. It even has advanced technology so it doesn't hit pedestrians.

 

[gman]

Couldn't someone just open up the back of a van and lift the thing into it and drive off with the robot and delivery item. Jeez!!

 

[dandirk]

Couldn't someone just open up the back of a van and lift the thing into it and drive off with the robot and delivery item. Jeez!!

Totally...

Seems pretty impractical... well at least in the good ol' US of A where it will get jacked within the first day... Sorta like that hitch-hiking robot that went across europe no problem and then it hit philly and got mugged. THAT didn't even have anything to steal really.

 

[the-one1]

Totally...

Seems pretty impractical... well at least in the good ol' US of A where it will get jacked within the first day... Sorta like that hitch-hiking robot that went across europe no problem and then it hit philly and got mugged. THAT didn't even have anything to steal really.

Some people just want to watch the world burn

 

[travm]

Couldn't someone just open up the back of a van and lift the thing into it and drive off with the robot and delivery item. Jeez!!

I'm sure the same technology that lets it "not hit pedestrians" can be modified to... KILL US ALL!

 

[Zigmorph]

Is mugging a robot a crime? Is a robot a peoples? Does a robot have the right to defends itself? Will the neighbors dog pee on said robot? Will the robot care? Wash its leg off? So many questions....

 

[amddragonpc]

The scavengers that roam around Chicago picking up metal out of trash cans would just throw this robot in the back of their pickup trucks and call it a day.

 

[spugm1r3]

I see these taking off in the enterprise, not so much the consumer space. You don't have to worry about anyone stealing it, everything is within it's range, and it would be easy to condition company culture to accept their presence.

 

[Galvin]

Most likely it has a tracking device and police would find it no problem.

 

[dmchurch]

Saw this news article this morning:" Domino’s has a robot delivering pizzas in Australia. Domino’s latest “deliveryman” stands 3 feet tall and doesn’t need to be tipped. It has ferried pizzas in Brisbane at a top speed of 12 mph, and the company’s Australian master franchise said it’s excited for what could come next." They are already using them.