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In a close look at the increasingly automated future that awaits humanity, 10 silver robots in the form of ice cream trucks deliver the Southside Flying Pizza to hungry Austinites in Travis Heights and the Central Business District.
The company behind the three-wheeled machines hopes to grow its fleet exponentially and be part of a technological revolution in the way people get their supplies.
“Robots are your friends,” says Luke Schneider, CEO of Refraction AI, based in Michigan. “Robots will make your life more convenient. You will make your city more sustainable and improve your life. “
The battery-operated devices, called REV-1s, travel up to 24 km / h and can recognize traffic lights and signs. They don’t travel as fast as a delivery driver in a car, but Refraction AI argues that they can take more efficient routes through traffic rather than looking for parking spaces. The REV-1 can go uphill, but if you live in a third floor apartment you will have to go downstairs to pick up your cake.
Multiple REV-1’s can be remotely monitored by a single person with a stable internet connection, reducing labor costs compared to bike delivery. This person can intervene when practical operation is required.
For now, a companion follows on an electric scooter. Once the robot’s artificial intelligence learns to navigate the unpredictable streets of Austin, the companion is no longer needed.
Andrew Weber / KUT
A REV-1 grocery delivery robot navigates the bike path on South Congress Avenue.
Some people expressed frustration on social media when they learned that the REV-1 was going to occupy bike lanes. A 2017 Austin City Council resolution would have banned delivery robots from using bike lanes and forced them onto sidewalks. However, this was overridden by a state law passed by the Texan Legislature in 2019 that allows robots to use the sides of roads, including bicycle lanes.
“I can look at it one way and say, ‘Oh, that’s just another obstacle on the bike lanes,'” said Professor Colin Allen of the University of Pittsburgh, who wrote a book on how robots teach right from wrong. “But then I can say, ‘It’s another obstacle on a bike path and why should I have to accept that?'”
The REV-1 is obliged to give right of way to pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles. It is unclear exactly how this will affect a single-lane cycle path next to fast-moving cars.
“We end up adjusting and adjusting in a way that is fine for limited purposes, but we just don’t want to have this anger all our lives,” Allen said.
Bike Austin, BikeTexas, and Please Be Kind to Cyclists, three organizations committed to ensuring the access and safety of cyclists on the roads, have not returned requests for comment.
Gabriel C. Pérez / KUT News
A REV-1 is shown on the streets of Austin, followed by a companion. As soon as the artificial intelligence of the robot learns the streets, the companion is no longer needed. But a human will monitor remotely.
Delivery robots are new to Austin, save for a brief pilot in 2017 from Starship Robots. But some cities have had them for years. Starship went live in Washington, DC and Silicon Valley in 2017. FedEx is testing a same-day delivery robot called Roxo in several cities. Amazon launched a six-wheeled electric robot carrier called Scout in Seattle in 2019, but the company’s plans to deliver products via drone have stalled.
The city of Austin wants to be a test bed for delivery robots. Austin’s Strategic Mobility Plan, unanimously adopted by the city council in 2019, calls for working with the private sector to bring more to the city “to understand the opportunities it can serve”.
But Austin’s transportation division monitors REV-1 devices to make sure they’re compliant with state and local regulations.
“We have authority under our town council to cease operations,” said Jacob Culberson, an executive director of the Austin Transportation Department. “As long as they were complying with state law, we don’t think they’d have to, unless there was a security breach.”
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