Robot 509 from Starship Technologies is both patient and skittish. The autonomous machine, which resembles a Yeti cooler crossed with a Waymo mini van, moves around like a mammal near the bottom of the food chain. It freezes up in crowds and, even when utterly alone, scoots forward in halting spurts, seemingly suspicious of fallen leaves.
A few days after Thanksgiving, Robot 509 ferries some cargo across the campus of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va. It stops on a deserted road, waiting for about a minute before finally scooting across, then trundles over a stretch of pavement and some railroad track before coming to a full stop.
Rachael Haberstroh, a James Madison administrator whose office is a long walk from most of the campus’s cafes, comes over and taps on her phone. “It’s supposed to play me a song,” she says, watching skeptically as the entire top of the robot swings open. As 509 serenades her with Adele’s Easy on Me, she reaches in and grabs a large, iced Starbucks drink.
Robots designed for sidewalk deliveries have existed for years, drawing both suspicion—San Francisco banned them in 2017, before creating a program to allow some testing—and ridicule from those who see them as another Silicon Valley solution in search of a problem. Near-term expectations for all kinds of autonomous vehicles have fallen recently, after several years of unrealistically optimistic projections and a string of road fatalities. But sidewalk bots have begun to gain momentum in certain environments. A few thousand pedestrian-speed delivery robots are in operation, a figure that will at least triple in 2022 if the leading bot makers hit their goals.
Esta historia es de la edición December 27, 2021 - January 03, 2022 (Double Spread) de Bloomberg Businessweek.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición December 27, 2021 - January 03, 2022 (Double Spread) de Bloomberg Businessweek.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Instagram's Founders Say It's Time for a New Social App
The rise of AI and the fall of Twitter could create opportunities for upstarts
Running in Circles
A subscription running shoe program aims to fight footwear waste
What I Learned Working at a Hawaiien Mega-Resort
Nine wild secrets from the staff at Turtle Bay, who have to manage everyone from haughty honeymooners to go-go-dancing golfers.
How Noma Will Blossom In Kyoto
The best restaurant in the world just began its second pop-up in Japan. Here's what's cooking
The Last-Mover Problem
A startup called Sennder is trying to bring an extremely tech-resistant industry into the age of apps
Tick Tock, TikTok
The US thinks the Chinese-owned social media app is a major national security risk. TikTok is running out of ways to avoid a ban
Cleaner Clothing Dye, Made From Bacteria
A UK company produces colors with less water than conventional methods and no toxic chemicals
Pumping Heat in Hamburg
The German port city plans to store hot water underground and bring it up to heat homes in the winter
Sustainability: Calamari's Climate Edge
Squid's ability to flourish in warmer waters makes it fitting for a diet for the changing environment
New Money, New Problems
In Naples, an influx of wealthy is displacing out-of-towners lower-income workers