Robot Food Delivery

[nightstreak]

After years of false starts and city council bans on sidewalk robots, a serious effort has gotten started by Magna International.

If anyone saw in the other thread, I was hit by an Uber Eats e-bike courier who ran a red light. It was bound to happen after dozens of routine near misses and I'm frankly sick of it. I was already pretty grumpy about e-bike couriers before being injured by one, now I'm all in for seeing their role taken over by robots. They're going too fast and ignoring all the rules because that's how the service is designed. I put far more trust in a robot.

I'm convinced that a city of automated vehicles, including for transportation, is going to save us from chronic congestion, worsening pedestrian safety and car centric policies swallowing our cities. As driver license free generations begin to dominate and transition away from a model of car ownership to cars as a service, the unbreakable car lobby that has transformed our cities for a century will weaken and maybe we'll begin to see our cities built for people again.

 

[APTA-2048]

the unbreakable car lobby that has transformed our cities for a century will weaken and maybe we'll begin to see our cities built for people again.

Not gonna change if they keep pushing their giant pods where one or two people can lounge in.

 

[Towered]

Interesting that it's a Magna initiative. Once upon a time, I worked for them.

 

[txlseries4]

After years of false starts and city council bans on sidewalk robots, a serious effort has gotten started by Magna International.

View attachment 712728

If anyone saw in the other thread, I was hit by an Uber Eats e-bike courier who ran a red light. It was bound to happen after dozens of routine near misses and I'm frankly sick of it. I was already pretty grumpy about e-bike couriers before being injured by one, now I'm all in for seeing their role taken over by robots. They're going too fast and ignoring all the rules because that's how the service is designed. I put far more trust in a robot.

I'm convinced that a city of automated vehicles, including for transportation, is going to save us from chronic congestion, worsening pedestrian safety and car centric policies swallowing our cities. As driver license free generations begin to dominate and transition away from a model of car ownership to cars as a service, the unbreakable car lobby that has transformed our cities for a century will weaken and maybe we'll begin to see our cities built for people again.

I think you've missed some recent information because the Magna's pilot abruptly ended in the fall three months earlier than planned. Couple of articles below:

Magna’s automated vehicles faced construction and red light issues: city report - Toronto | Globalnews.ca

City of Toronto staff say Magna's automated delivery drivers may have had issues with construction signage and problems turning at a red light during a pilot project this year.

globalnews.ca

‘You never know why companies do things’: Magna ends its driverless vehicle test early in Toronto — leaving behind a mystery

Magna International ended its pilot program three months earlier than planned, puzzling local councillors.

www.thestar.com

There are privacy and safety concerns, touched on in the article, that will go to Infrastructure and Environment Committee this month: https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.IE26.10
A letter was sent from the City to the MTO and included this curious part;

"The recent pilot of driverless automated delivery vehicles in Toronto attracted significant attention from Toronto City Council, with specific concerns relating to safety, congestion, collection of information, and protection of privacy. These concerns are based on lessons the City has learned from previous AV pilot projects. During both the City-initiated AV shuttle trial and the recent private-operator pilot in Toronto, a variety of vehicle behaviours were observed by one or both vehicle types which presented safety and congestion risks. These behaviours included vehicles incapable of making right turns at red lights, incapable of appropriately participating in turn-taking at stop-sign controlled intersections, frequent abrupt stops in response to a variety of common stimuli, veering out of lane of travel, turn signals that didn’t function, and an unscheduled shut-down and re-boot in a lane of live traffic with inability to move to the side of the road. There are also data collection and privacy concerns that should be addressed ahead of any AV pilot projects to ensure transparency with the public and safe handling of data and personal information."

 

[Towered]

I think you've missed some recent information because the Magna's pilot abruptly ended in the fall three months earlier than planned. Couple of articles below:

Magna’s automated vehicles faced construction and red light issues: city report - Toronto | Globalnews.ca

City of Toronto staff say Magna's automated delivery drivers may have had issues with construction signage and problems turning at a red light during a pilot project this year.

globalnews.ca

‘You never know why companies do things’: Magna ends its driverless vehicle test early in Toronto — leaving behind a mystery

Magna International ended its pilot program three months earlier than planned, puzzling local councillors.

www.thestar.com

There are privacy and safety concerns, touched on in the article, that will go to Infrastructure and Environment Committee this month: https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.IE26.10
A letter was sent from the City to the MTO and included this curious part;

"The recent pilot of driverless automated delivery vehicles in Toronto attracted significant attention from Toronto City Council, with specific concerns relating to safety, congestion, collection of information, and protection of privacy. These concerns are based on lessons the City has learned from previous AV pilot projects. During both the City-initiated AV shuttle trial and the recent private-operator pilot in Toronto, a variety of vehicle behaviours were observed by one or both vehicle types which presented safety and congestion risks. These behaviours included vehicles incapable of making right turns at red lights, incapable of appropriately participating in turn-taking at stop-sign controlled intersections, frequent abrupt stops in response to a variety of common stimuli, veering out of lane of travel, turn signals that didn’t function, and an unscheduled shut-down and re-boot in a lane of live traffic with inability to move to the side of the road. There are also data collection and privacy concerns that should be addressed ahead of any AV pilot projects to ensure transparency with the public and safe handling of data and personal information."

All those concerns apply just as much to those horrid Uber Eats couriers, and yet what is the city doing about the chaos they bring?