The US state of Virginia is the first in the country where delivery robots are allowed to drive unmanned. Small robots will be allowed by law from 1 July to drive on public pavements to deliver parcels.
With the passing of the bill come a lot of rules. For instance, the trolleys must not drive faster than 16 kilometres per hour, be no heavier than 22.7 kilos and the delivery drivers must be monitored via monitors by the company sending them out on the road.
The change in the law comes after a long lobbying effort by Estonian start-up Starship Technologies, which develops such robots. In January, the company already tested their devices in US Redwood City, California and Washington. Also in London, the Estonian start-up was involved in an experiment by food delivery service Just Eat.
Delivery robots vs drones
Other companies had also been experimenting with the unmanned delivery robots for some time. In Dusseldorf, Media Markt tested the robots in a residential area and delivery service FedEX even indicated to believe more in the developments around delivery robots than drones, which always still require someone to be present to control them.
After Virginia, the US states of Idaho and Florida are also looking at the possibilities with delivery robots.
