Sidewalk Delivery Robots Spark Bans and Backlash in U.S. and U.K. Cities

Today’s Focus

Wheeled delivery robots that ferry groceries and takeout along city sidewalks are running into organized public resistance, according to a BBC report published this week.

The machines, formally called autonomous urban delivery vehicles, now operate in parts of the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Canada and Germany. Operators including Starship Technologies, Serve Robotics, Coco and Kiwibot use cameras, GPS and onboard sensors to navigate around pedestrians, cross streets and complete last-mile deliveries.

The BBC profiled Chicago resident John Roberts, who said his initial curiosity turned into opposition after he and his family had to step aside for a robot on a narrow sidewalk. Roberts has since launched a local campaign asking the city to restrict the devices.

He is not alone. Several U.S. and Canadian municipalities have already imposed limits or outright bans, citing complaints about blocked curb cuts, near-misses with pedestrians and concerns over the cameras the robots carry.

In the United States, San Francisco previously required Pavement Delivery Device permits and capped speeds after a 2017 ordinance. Toronto banned sidewalk robots in 2021 following objections from accessibility advocates, according to coverage by the BBC and statements from the city’s Accessibility Advisory Committee at the time.

Companies operating the fleets told the BBC the robots are designed to detect and yield to pedestrians, reduce car trips and lower delivery emissions. They argue that documented collisions remain rare relative to the millions of deliveries completed.

The dispute is now playing out city by city, with no uniform federal rule in the U.S. or U.K. governing who controls the sidewalk.

The Debate

Supporters argue

Operators and their allies frame the robots as a climate and labor solution. Starship Technologies, quoted by the BBC, said its devices have completed more than seven million autonomous deliveries worldwide and that each trip displaces a car or scooter run.

Industry group the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association has argued in public filings that small electric robots cut tailpipe emissions, ease curbside congestion and lower delivery costs for small restaurants competing with chains.

Supporters point to university campuses as proof of concept. George Mason University and the University of Wisconsin have run Starship fleets for years, and campus officials told local press the robots reduced food-delivery car traffic without serious injury incidents.

Advocates also note labor market context. Serve Robotics CEO Ali Kashani told CNBC the company’s bots handle short, low-margin trips that gig drivers increasingly decline, and that human couriers remain essential for longer routes.

Some disability researchers see potential upside too. A 2023 Carnegie Mellon working paper noted delivery robots could expand access to fresh food for residents with limited mobility, if sidewalks are wide enough and curb cuts protected.

Critics argue

Opponents say private companies are using public sidewalks as free infrastructure without consent. Roberts told the BBC his objection is partly about space and partly about precedent: “We were on the one strip reserved for walking, and we were having to get out of the way.”

Disability rights groups have been among the loudest critics. The American Council of the Blind and Toronto’s Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance have argued that stalled or improperly parked robots block curb cuts and pose hazards for wheelchair users and people who are blind.

Privacy advocates raise a second concern. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has warned that fleets of camera-equipped robots create a rolling surveillance network whose footage is largely unregulated.

Local officials have echoed those points. When Toronto banned the devices in 2021, City Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam said the city needed to protect pedestrians and disabled residents before any pilot moved forward, according to CBC News.

What the experts say

Independent research on sidewalk robots is still thin, but several findings shape the debate.

A 2022 study from the Urban Robotics Lab at the University of Washington, led by Prof. Anat Caspi, found that current sidewalk infrastructure in most U.S. cities does not meet Americans with Disabilities Act width standards in roughly one-third of sampled blocks, meaning any added wheeled traffic compounds existing access problems.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported in 2024 that no federal agency tracks sidewalk robot incidents, leaving cities to rely on company-reported data. The GAO recommended Congress consider a uniform reporting framework.

On emissions, a 2023 peer-reviewed paper in the journal Transportation Research Part D estimated that electric delivery robots can cut per-package carbon emissions by 60 to 70 percent compared with gasoline van delivery, but only when they replace car trips rather than walking or cycling trips.

Brookings Institution fellow Adie Tomer has written that the central policy question is not whether robots work, but who gets to allocate scarce sidewalk space, a decision historically made by elected local governments rather than private operators.

By the Numbers

7 million: autonomous deliveries Starship Technologies says its robots have completed globally, according to figures the company provided to the BBC.

2021: the year Toronto banned sidewalk delivery robots citywide, citing accessibility concerns, per CBC News.

60-70%: estimated reduction in per-package carbon emissions when electric sidewalk robots replace gasoline van delivery, according to a 2023 study in Transportation Research Part D.

1 in 3: roughly the share of U.S. urban sidewalk blocks that fall short of ADA width standards in a 2022 University of Washington sample.

0: federal agencies currently tracking sidewalk robot incidents in the U.S. according to a 2024 GAO report.

6: countries (U.S. U.K. Canada, Germany, Japan, South Korea) where delivery robots now operate on public sidewalks, per the BBC.

3 mph: typical top speed of sidewalk robots operated by Starship and Serve, according to company specifications cited by CNBC.