I genuinely hope I never get to a point where this is how I decide to spend my time. What a sad existence.
You hope to never be an accomplished author and former professor who is willing to risk their own safety to bring relevant topics to the forefront of discussion? Yea I dont think you will.
Why has it taken me so long to hear the term Slop-bowl’s. I love it!
Does that make delivery drones, Slop-birds?
I mean in one sense I get it but in another sense what a weird hill to have chosen.
Of all the things and ways to protest, how is stopping me from getting my burger really helping? It’s not even as if I ordered it from an AI company, it’s from a local burger place.
Some people just need their windmills…
I think that’s a reasonable reaction to the further encroachment of robots into parts of life where they didn’t exist before.
I’ll also say that if they decorated those things in a way that didn’t make us feel like we’re living in the WALL-E universe, I’d feel a tad bit better about it. Like, make it steampunk or something.
Hot gluing gears onto the robots will surely work wonders on public acceptance.
A nice top hat and curly mustache would really subdue the threatening vibes.
“Motor intimidation”
I’m wonder why she doesn’t just gift them little hats.
I wonder what would happen if you covered up the lidar. Seems like it would stop doing whatever it was doing and ask for human assistance. Seems like the lidar would fit nicely under a to-go bowl, maybe a large soda cup.
This is a really tough one to decide where to side. On the one hand, its first amendment rights and on the other, its the rights of corporations via robots. I’m so torn on this issue.
Do delivery robots belong on the sidewalk?
Good question. I’d say based on speed and risk. If they go as fast as a walking person and won’t bump people, upset the flow or get in the way, sidewalk is OK (to a limit, you can’t have hundreds of these things zooming all over.) If they are slow and on the street or bike lane, they’re likely to cause problems. I’ve heard some people say that companies need to pay to widen the sidewalk to accommodate these things, but that’s a whole different problem
Definitely not. Look at the short video in the article, and imagine there are dozens of those things, which will inevitably happen if this kind of thing ramps up, which is surely what the corporation who’s running these things wants. There would be no way to safely walk down the sidewalk, and people would be forced to walk in the street to get around them.
Can apply the same principle for mobility scooters.
Yeah, fuck those people with movement disorders and their spinal and neurological disabilities, they should get back in the hospital bed where they belong. /s
To be fair if there are dozens of these things on the sidewalk then that means traffic is much better and the road can be cannibalized to increase the area available. Assuming the government acts fairly and promptly (hah, as if), this is a win for everyone involved.
if there are dozens of these things on the sidewalk then that means traffic is much better
That’s a stretch. There could still be plenty of car traffic while still having sidewalks filled with bots
No. Why would you possibly think that? Traffic would not get better.
I’m guessing because one of these means a 5-8 passenger internal combustion vehicle is not on the roads, but we all know pedestrians will never get that real estate back.
No!
Where do they belong, then?
The road! It’s got 4 wheels and motors. Or we could think about how we’ve designed urban spaces that surrender all space to cars forcing everyone not in a car can get fucked, so maybe take one car lane away and make a new bike/ delivery bot lane.
Except they’re not road fit.
They can’t go at appropriate speeds (IIRC most of these go at best 10mph)
They’re small and low - visibility within city level follow distance is impossible
Overall, everyone’s safer if they stay on the pavement.
Well yeah that’s why they go on bike lanes.
Oh yeah, them moving suddenly into the way of a cyclist will end well.
These things are pretty much exclusively used on college campuses and downtown areas
I’m not sure I see your point, unless you’re assuming college campuses and downtown cores aren’t still heavily car based in the US? I assure you most of them have a road or parking lane to spare near the restaurants that the bots want to pick up from
Honestly, have them share a bus lane, or expand bike lanes into a secondary lane for delivery robots. Make it on the outside though, so there’s a buffer for cyclists.
No
She found a way to get attention.
