Sidewalk delivery robots are expanding. A Council bill to regulate them has waited 163 days
Avride is adding Grubhub and Wonder orders. Bill 260526 would charge $1,000 per robot delivery and require registration. It has not had a hearing.
More delivery robots are coming to Philadelphia sidewalks. Avride, the company behind the Uber Eats robots in Center City, will extend service to Grubhub orders and Wonder food halls, Billy Penn reported Oct. 21. The company has not said how many robots it will add, which neighborhoods will be served, or when the expansion starts.
For people who walk, use wheelchairs or push strollers in Center City, the question is who sets the rules for machines that share the sidewalk. Right now, most of that power sits with the state.
What the rules are now
A 2020 Pennsylvania law treats personal delivery devices as pedestrians, Billy Penn reported. They may use sidewalks and crosswalks and must yield to people on foot and bikes. They can go up to 12 mph in pedestrian areas, though Avride's robots usually move at walking speed. Companies need PennDOT authorization, and Avride got approval for its second phase in Philadelphia on Sept. 23, according to PennDOT's public list as cited by Billy Penn.
The city's role is narrower. Companies must notify the Streets Department at least 30 days before starting and name the areas they will use. City officials can bar the robots from places they find hazardous, Billy Penn reported.
Uber Eats robot deliveries began March 10 in Center City, Chinatown and Old City. Avride has reported about a dozen robots operating in the city at a time. The robots have drawn friction since. Some have been kicked or blocked, a pedestrian reported being bumped by one, and police arrested a pedestrian this month who refused to move out of one's path, according to Billy Penn.
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What our records add
5th District Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr. introduced Bill 260526 on May 14. It is his alone, with no co-sponsors. It went to the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development, and our record shows no hearing or other action since. As of Saturday it has waited 163 days.
The bill's text (PDF) would:
- require third-party food delivery services to register workers who use e-bikes and the "autonomous delivery units" that make deliveries in the city;
- require identification, recordkeeping, reporting, complaint intake and compliance certification;
- charge each delivery service $1,000 per delivery made by an autonomous unit in the city.
Billy Penn noted that the fee would be more than the typical cost of the food being delivered. Whether a city fee like this would hold up alongside the state law that allows the devices has not been tested. The bill's text does not address that question.
The sidewalk fight elsewhere in Council
Sidewalk space comes up often in Council business. On Oct. 22, Council passed four sidewalk café and encroachment bills by 16-0 votes, including Bill 260692, which adds approved café locations (Oct. 22 meeting).
What's next
Bill 260526 needs a hearing in the Commerce and Economic Development Committee before it can move. None is on the calendar. Billy Penn reported that Grubhub's robot option requires restaurants to opt in, unlike some earlier pickups that restaurants said they had not signed up for. Avride said its robot count will "evolve alongside the needs of the program."