Food delivery robots are struggling to steer clear of Chicagoâs bus stop shelters. Within just 48 hours, two autonomous couriers from different companies veered off course and collided with shelters shattering glass and alarming nearby residents. These pair of dramatic incidents come amidst brewing tension among community members and lawmakers in Chicago who oppose the robotsâ presence. The crashes also come just weeks after one of the manufacturers announced it was integrating a new mapping system trained on âPokĂ©mon Goâ data which is designed to improve navigation accuracy.
The first crash occurred on Monday March 23 in Chicagoâs West Town neighborhood. Videos posted on social media show the delivery robot from Serve Robotics driving almost halfway past the bus shelter before suddenly veering toward it. The robot makes contact and smashes through the glass barrier, Kool-Aid Man style, before coming to a stop with crumbled broken glass covering and surrounding the sidewalk. After a few moments of stillness, the robotâs front-facing googly eyes blink and it backs up several feet. Other videos show the robot driving away and shaking off glass from its top onto the sidewalk.
A similar crash occurred just one day later in the Old Town neighborhood, this time involving a device operated by Coco Robotics. Like the first incident, the Coco robot reportedly swerved into the bus shelter while making a delivery and only stopped after bursting through it. A reporter from a local CBS News affiliate arrived at the scene and saw the shattered glass, though the robot had since been removed. A nearby barbershop owner told CBS they heard a loud noise, looked out, and saw the wrecked robot. He also said he saw a second robot near where the first one crashed. That one was reportedly carrying what looked like a red flag.
âI hear the noise, so I look out, and Iâm like, âWhatâs going on?â and I see the robot,â the barbershop owner told CBS.Â
Neither Serve nor Coco have explained what exactly happened that may have caused the robotsâ crashes. Serve did not immediately respond to Popular Scienceâs request for comment.
In a statement sent to 404 Media, a Serve spokesperson said it sent a human support crew to the scene soon after the incident and cleared up the shattered glass. It noted it is reviewing the incident and has âbeen in contact with local stakeholders.â
In a statement shared with Popular Science, Coco Robotics Vice President and Head of Government Relations Carl Hansen says they are aware of the incident, which he says was ânot representative of our typical operations.âÂ
âAcross more than one million miles of deliveries, this is the first time one of our robots has collided with a structure like this,â Hansen says. âOur robots operate at a top speed of about 5 miles per hour, and safety is a top priority in how we design and monitor our systems.â
Hansen adds that the company quickly dispatched a team to retrieve the robot and clean up the area. Coco has also launched an internal investigation to determine what caused the robotâs error. In the meantime, it says itâs taking responsibility for the cost of repairing the wrecked shelter.Â
âWhile this appears to be a rare, isolated event, we are committed to learning from it and ensuring it does not happen again,â says Hansen.
Coco crash comes amid switch to new navigation systemÂ
The bus shelter crashes come less than two weeks after Coco announced it would begin implementing a new Visual Positioning System (VPS) provided by Niantic Spatial to improve its robotic navigation accuracy. VPS data is supposed to help robots determine where they are on a map simply by looking at the surrounding images, a technique Niantic Spatial says is intended to help in areas where GPS is spotty. That Niantic Spatial VPS data was trained in part on millions of images collected from users who played the popular augmented reality game âPokĂ©mon Go.â
The recent rollout led some users on social media to speculate whether this new mapping system may have contributed to the recent crash. To that end, a spokesperson for the company told Popular Science it is âcurrently integrating,â visual positioning and maintaining the root cause of the bus stop issue was not related to geolocation.Â
Delivery robots have had a bumpy road so farÂ
These bus shelter crashes are the latest incidents in a shaky rollout for delivery robots across the country more broadly. Images and videos shared on social media show robots from various brands getting lost, bumping into things, and struggling to cross streets. One viral video shows Cocoâs unit getting submerged in flood water during a rainy day in Los Angeles, while another shows one churning its wheels in snow. In Chicago, incidents involving this type of robot have become commonplace enough that the city has launched its own 311 category especially for residents to submit safety issues and lodge complaints.
Delivery robot struggles through flooded intersection in WeHo
Those issues have bred animosity among some residents and led to growing calls to get the robots off the streets. One Chicago Alderman named Daniel La Spata acted on those calls and temporarily banned both Serve and Coco from operating in his ward. That same sentiment is shared by more than 3,600 residents who signed onto a petition calling on the official to ban the delivery robots citywide.
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