I saw one a couple of days ago in Zurich Sternen Oerlikon, delivering something. It was scary at first - ugly and intimidating too. Almost 1.5 m tall… This one had wheels …
Are these ‘permitted’ on sidewalks?
If allowed in sidewalks, it should be at average human walking pace. I’d be annoyed if I see one on the streets. When I walk I have to look out for cars, other pedestrians, cyclists, motos, big trucks and now…this? FFS! A negative externality on wheels.
Anything of importance or value can’t be handled by the robot. That leaves menial tasks to the robot. If the kebab is 15 Francs, maybe another 10 for delivery. If 20 deliveries a day, 200 CHF of revenue. Can that kind of revenue pay for the capital investment, refueling, maintenance and insurance of the robot? Humans in bicycles are 0 capital investment and (almost) zero liability for delivery companies, it’s hard to compete with that.
Well … economies of scale will kick in, i imagine … just like delivery trucks, i am guessing that these units will have different compartments to make multiple deliveries within a locality …
the problem that i saw - it was navigating the crowd very very slowly … of course it was at a busy time in the evening, full of people getting on/off trams and buses and many stopping/crowding to look at it. Plus people walk everywhere here on the sidewalk - not like in the US where people (mostly) walk on the right …
At the rate it was going, the food would be cold or the customer will have already eaten something else out of dire necessity …
the video shows no traffic, just how it navigates various terrains …
cool gadget though, but not sure how the delivery or the economics will work out.
Burn the infernal machine with fire.
I can easily imagine people hunting them for fun.
I wonder how many will end up in the river?
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Of course it can. This is a country where we have expensive items left in unlocked postboxes.
Plus, I guess these things have cameras on them and tracking which probably makes it more secure than human delivery.
As for cost, however much it costs, I’m sure it is cheaper than a human when considering Swiss wages.
futuristically projecting, automated trucks with these delivery units come to mind … In that case, there will be fewer DPD/UPS/delivery drivers with their crazy mad-dash driving to finish the route asap and go home …
Means I wont have the chance to thank the delivery person with a bottle of wine at the end of the year … will miss maintaininng that ‘neighbour’ relationship and the special treatment that came with it … bummer …
If one gets in my way I will simply smash it.
Just FYI they do have cameras, and that is technically criminal damage.