If they didn't use sidewalks, bike paths, pedestrian crossing or roads obstructing mostly pedestrians I think I wouldn't have problem with them, butt that's not the case so I dislike them very much, though I like the use of technology.

But overall they support unhealthy lifestyle, they deliver food (at least here in Europe they seem to be used only for food) only over short distance where client could easily and faster just pick up their own food, if they don't wanna dine in or prepare their food at home (in advance).

We have already problems with stupid drivers parking their cars or even driving their cars on sidewalk, we don't need another obstruction.

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SwellJoe 20 hours ago | parent [-]

Counterpoint (though I agree there is often a problem with them sharing often already insufficient pedestrian infrastructure): Many people can't walk to pick up their food.

Pervasive delivery service is a huge quality of life improvement for a variety of disabled folks and folks who are homebound for whatever reason.

And, the alternative to these robots is exactly this:

"We have already problems with stupid drivers parking their cars or even driving their cars on sidewalk"

The alternative is not, actually, that everyone will walk to go pick up their food. It's either a gig worker, almost certainly in a car, probably a gas-driven car, or a little electric robot. It's usually a choice between more cars on the road or more robots on the sidewalk. I used to get deliveries by bike, sometimes, and that's also cool, but pretty rare outside of particularly dense cities.

I don't actually have any objection to their use being limited/regulated in some areas if they're disruptive for pedestrians. But, consider what they replace, and whether they're worse or better. (You may come down on the side of "worse", and I won't argue with you. In some places, they probably are.)

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Markoff 17 hours ago | parent [-]

that works only in theory, these robots deliver the food only on the street, so they might as well leave in restaurant since they make no difference for someone on 2nd or higher floor, most of the people in areas where they operate don't live in villas, but they either deliver to companies or to residential multi floor buildings

plus disabled people have already their carers to take care of the food and can't rely on unreliable robot which will get stuck even on simple pedestrian crossing

so yes, human delivery service to the door is improvement to disabled people's lives, robot delivery to the street sidewalk certainly isn't

counterpoint to the cars - they are much more efficient, they can delivery many orders at once, they are faster and they can deliver food to the door for disabled people, so these delivery robots are completely useless alternative besides companies saving money on human workers

btw I'd rather prefer police doing their actual work when car park on the sidewalk rather than robot alternative, I think the best compromise which is already used here would be ebike/motorbike delivery not taking any significant space

personally I don't order any food so I don't really have horse in this race, I think I've made two food orders over like 3-4 years, one for my birthday and other was wife's online team building paid by her company, both were for like 5-6km distance robot would take hours to deliver

	▲	SwellJoe 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		"counterpoint to the cars - they are much more efficient, they can delivery many orders at once" I'd like to see the math before I agree cars are more efficient, at all. Little electric robots produce a lot less emissions than a gaming PC. Cars...well, they produce a lot more emissions than a gaming PC. And, gig workers are usually carrying two or three orders, not a big stack. In the old days when the only delivery was pizza and Chinese, they could stack them up and make it efficient. These days, it's three different stops at three different restaurants. "plus disabled people have already their carers to take care of the food" You have imagined a specific type of disabled person living in a specific type of world, and it is unlike anything that exists in the real world. Most disabled people do not have in-home carers, at all, much less 24/7. Many disabled people can meet a delivery at the door or sidewalk, but can't easily travel to pick something up. Sure, most regular folks should walk more, rather than order a burrito taxi. But, that's not where we are, and I don't know how we get somewhere else. Certainly outlawing little electric robots doesn't stop people from ordering food delivery. Based on what I know (which is not exhaustive, but isn't nothing, I work on delivery robots in a different space), I prefer the robots to the cars. But, the robots should absolutely be held accountable for disrupting pedestrian and wheelchair access to sidewalks.