Greg's Corner

San Francisco bans delivery robots

Previously, we’ve discussed delivery robots not only as a possible way of the future, but also how they could be used to make online classifieds transactions safer. Instead of having to meet someone in public, the robots could be used instead to deliver the goods which could greatly educe the risk to personal harm. While three states have approved legislation for delivery robots one major metropolitan area just terminated their public use.

San Francisco is a very tech-centric city and has been the home of many start-ups over the years. However, recently they did something very Un-San Francisco like by virtually banning delivery robots. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors just voted to bury these robots in an avalanche of red tape. Now, these delivery start-ups will have to get permits to use their robots, they can only be used in low pedestrian traffic areas, and can only be used for research purposes. While not outright banning them this does effectively cripple the industry. The Board of Supervisors claims that they’re banning the robots over safety concerns, but is that really why?

Rather than safety issues could the city instead be worried about the potential loss of jobs that these robots could represent? It brings to mind that in two states, Oregon and New Jersey, it is illegal to pump your own gas. These states claim it’s a safety concern while the other 48 states have little to no issues with people pumping their own gas. Instead these bans are used to protect jobs more than to protect consumers from any possible hazards. This seems like a more logical reason for San Francisco to ban these robots than safety issues, but if they were to publicly claim this it could potentially dissuade other start-ups from wanting to make San Francisco their home.