Interesting that there's no mention in TFA or the comments about DoorDash's ground-based delivery "drones": https://about.doordash.com/en-us/news/doordash-unveils-dot -- I've seen them testing these things in parts of the Bay Area for more than a year now.
I think they're intended to use sidewalks and bike lanes, so should address concerns about cars clogging up streets.
My hunch is that just because they're smaller and lighter does not mean it's an easier problem to solve than a self-driving car. A more interesting partnership between Waymo and DoorDash would be licensing a scaled-down version of the Waymo tech for these things.
They have deployed some of these in LA by other companies e.g. Coco robotics. Really ridiculous offering imo. It moves slower than walking speed. Even slower when you factor in all the unnavigable obstacles they run into like upturned sidewalks, debris in the sidewalk, homeless encampments, etc. There are of course videos online of them being vandalized or broken into. Videos of them crossing the road like a game of Frogger. What is more is that they are actually controlled by a person vs actually being some automated solution. And then they have to wait there on the sidewalk until the customer comes and picks up the food. They can't manage going into buildings of course.
I can't imagine getting food delivered from only a half mile away in 30+ mins but that's the offering I guess. Not sure why so many people these days are tolerating soggy cold food sold to them at a markup.
This video was pretty ironic: waymo crashing into one of these crossing the sidewalk
How do they prevent food from being stolen out of the drones? When I delivered pizza that was a real problem, you had to be sure you never left your car unlocked with pizzas inside and never be away from it any longer than necessary.
These are all over the place in Tempe, AZ. I see them cruising through my neighborhood all the time.
The funny thing is that there is usually a guy on an ebike following right behind, and he's usually just decked out in sortof tactical-ish gear. Full mask, head to toe in all black. I feel bad for whoever it is in the summer, because it gets really hot here.
I wonder if there's just not enough money in that, because it sounds like a brilliant idea.
The Waymo driver could get a lot of experience working in a different but adjacent environment with much lower stakes. It still has to navigate and look out for pedestrians, cars, signals, construction and obstructions, and possibly human traffic directors.
I imagine a non-trivial percentage of the city can't be navigated by sidewalks alone, and a lot of the sidewalks are in bad enough condition that they couldn't be navigated unless the wheels and clearance are quite large, but who knows.
I think they're intended to use sidewalks and bike lanes, so should address concerns about cars clogging up streets.
My hunch is that just because they're smaller and lighter does not mean it's an easier problem to solve than a self-driving car. A more interesting partnership between Waymo and DoorDash would be licensing a scaled-down version of the Waymo tech for these things.