The popularity of remote food delivery skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the trend has continued to help businesses thrive years later.
Unfortunately, some of the autonomous delivery vehicles are taking a beating, with several viral videos showing people kicking the robots over and even stealing the products inside.
Businesses who use self-driving delivery technology are starting to be affected by the prevalence of vandals and thieves disrupting the delivery process.
“We have to remake the food, but luckily we still get reimbursed for that,” said Steve Avila, general manager of Blu Jam Café in Hollywood. “I can see how [delivery companies] can be hurting from it, especially because it seems like [the delivery robots] are pretty expensive.”
Serve Robots, which operates many of the autonomous delivery vehicles in West Hollywood said that despite the technology being targeted at times, they still complete 99.9 percent of their deliveries successfully.
Another company outlined the measures they have in place to help prevent and respond to vandalism.
“If someone tries to block the robots, the robots will attempt to maneuver around them or politely ask them to move,” read a statement from Starship Technologies. “If the situation escalates or the robot is tampered with, the robots have loud sirens, and any incidents are reported. Our robots are locked at all times and have 12 cameras.”
Ultimately, customers of local small businesses remain hopeful that people will stop tampering with the robots.
“They are helping small businesses and they’re not causing any harm,” said Clark Childers, a customer of a small business in West Hollywood. “I think people are just looking for attention.”
