Thanks to Regulatory Review for the heads up on this one
Here’s their precis
In an article published in Urban Geography, Mateja Kovacic, an assistant professor at Hong Kong Baptist University, and Simon Marvin and Aidan While, professors at the University of Sheffield, argued that the current patchwork of regulatory approaches to sidewalk delivery robots creates inconsistencies that hinder innovation. Kovacic, Marvin, and While highlighted that robots are deployed in complex urban environments, creating challenges to pedestrian safety and public access. They examined how municipalities in California have adopted varying regulatory approaches, ranging from permissive to prohibitive. Kovacic, Marvin, and While suggested that instead of reactive and fragmented policies, regulators should develop proactive, standardized frameworks that balance innovation with public safety, ensuring that sidewalk delivery robots are integrated into urban spaces without compromising pedestrian rights or city infrastructure.
Here’s the abstract
Sidewalk delivery robots are increasingly being deployed in diverse urban contexts, raising issues about the most appropriate form of regulation to maintain pedestrian flows and protect the public. This paper examines the evolution of sidewalk robot governance in a “hot spot” of urban robotic application in the State of California (USA), where different municipal authorities have experimented with prohibitive, permissive and collaborative forms of sidewalk re-regulation in response to the various potential disruptions and risks associated with the new technology. Combining detailed policy analysis and interviews, the paper takes forward literature on the regulatory challenges and opportunities in making space for urban robotics as a disruptive technology.
Read paper at
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02723638.2023.2275426#abstract
