As San Francisco grapples with emergent technologies, Supervisor Norman Yee wants get to ahead of autonomous delivery robots.
As San Francisco grapples with emergent technologies and new transportation options, Supervisor Norman Yee wants get to ahead of autonomous delivery robots before they get out of control.
At the Vision Zero Committee of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority on Tuesday, Yee sought the votes of his fellow committee members, supervisors Aaron Peksin and Ahsha Safai, to endorse his legislation at the Board of Supervisors to not allow the delivery robots to operate on the sidewalks.
The committee though decided to send the resolution to the full transportation authority without recommendation.
Yee cited safety concerns for anyone using the sidewalk, including pedestrians, seniors and the disabled:
“We value that week our sidewalks for people.”
Yee added that The City must create innovated laws to keep up with today’s innovations:
“This legislation is saying that we want our sidewalks to be safe for people to walk on.”
Safai, who did not support Yee’s resolution, said while he supports pedestrian safety, he wants to see The City work with the companies in crafting policies surrounding the delivery robots:
“I also think it’s important to allow the conversation to move forward and that we have the ability to craft a policy here to protect pedestrians and allows for research and technology to move forward.”
Yee responded by saying that he is not stopping companies to continue to research, but that he wanted companies to find a more “innovative” way of using autonomous delivery robots without having to use the sidewalks.
Harrison Shih, speaking on behalf of San Francisco-based Marble, said the company, which manufactures and operates delivery robots, has worked with supervisors and a number of community organzations, discussing concerns about safety.
Jim Lazarus with the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, who is against the resolution, supported the pilot program that requires companies to have permits with the Department of Public Works in order to operate autonomous delivery robots.
Danny Thomas Vang, a San Francisco State University student who is blind, said the size of the delivery robot and the width of the street must be taken into consideration when it comes to safety:
“It’s my concern that parents who use strollers or people who use disability devices such as wheelchairs or wide canes, or travelers who use luggage, will they be able to effectively navigate through the sidewalk with these devices on their path.”
Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who supports Yee’s resolution and brought forth legislation to ban the use of Segways on sidewalks, said:
“I think it’s good to take a timeout and make sure that we don’t end up in a situation where it’s too late and we can’t put the genie back in the bottle.”
Jerold serves as a reporter and San Francisco Bureau Chief for SFBay covering transportation and occasionally City Hall and the Mayor's Office in San Francisco. His work on transportation has been recognized by the San Francisco Press Club. Born and raised in San Francisco, he graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in journalism. Jerold previously wrote for the San Francisco Public Press, a nonprofit, noncommercial news organization. When not reporting, you can find Jerold taking Muni to check out new places to eat in the city.
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How smart would these robots have to be to be better behaved than some of the people who are totally immersed in their smartphones? Wouldn’t it be more likely for them to walk into a blind person? I saw a newsclip where a woman – I think it was in NYC – walked into a street-delivery elevators – the kind that have double doors set into the street, and made of iron with cat-eye shaped bosses – and over the raised door she went. It was sad that she was badly injured, but I couldn’t help laughing at the sight of her being flipped by the door.
And the same with the AVs: they can run one red light and so many say that they are still unsafe, but how many human-driven cars are running red lights with few saying that these driven cars are unsafe?
It is sad you find that funny. There are vision impaired and totally blind people out there, There is nothing funny about making them afraid to leave the house for a pint of milk.
This is another of RichLL’s sockpuppets.
LOL, so there is just one person on the planet who disagrees with you?
Is that what you are trying to get us to believe?