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Will Starship’s food delivery robots manage on Cambridge’s narrow pavements?




Will self-driving delivery robots be able to navigate Cambridge’s “narrow and potholed” pavements?

Councillors raised questions this week about plans to expand the trial of food delivery robots, currently operating in Cambourne, into some areas of the city. They voiced concerns on their impact on wheelchair and mobility scooter users, and those with pushchairs.

The Cambourne trial is being run by Starship Technology on behalf of Cambridgeshire County Council and was launched in May.

Starship Technologies food delivery robots have proved popular in Cambourne, delivering groceries from the Co-op. Picture: Starship Technologies
Starship Technologies food delivery robots have proved popular in Cambourne, delivering groceries from the Co-op. Picture: Starship Technologies

The robots, which navigate with AI and computer vision, are able to make short deliveries of groceries from the Co-op, ordered by customers through an app, which is also used to follow their progress and unlock them when they arrive.

The council hopes they can cut the number of short car trips to shops, and aid those with mobility issues.

A report presented to its highways and transport committee said there had been “overwhelming support” for the robots in Cambourne, and the aim was to expand the trials to Longstanton and Northstowe areas, as well as in south-east Cambridge – in Cherry Hinton, Romsey and Queen Edith’s.

But a representative of the group Camcycle asked: “Does anyone really believe that a trial of these robots would work in a place like Romsey with uneven, potholed pavements, covered with parked cars? Is it really fair to add another obstruction to people attempting to walk, wheel and push buggies in this area?”

David Allatt, assistant director for transport strategy and network management at the council, said: “The area of south east Cambridge will indeed be a challenge. There are some areas which are not suitable and would not be covered by the robots.

“Very narrow footways may be excluded to avoid obstruction with people attempting to walk, wheel, or push buggies.”

Cllr Alex Beckett (Lib Dem, Queen Edith’s), chair of the committee, added that it was important to trial the robots in areas where it will be a challenge, but said they “will obviously have to be careful”.

At the launch in Cambourne were, from left, Cllr Neil Shailer, vice-chair of highways and transport committee at Cambridgeshire County Council, Andrew Curtis, UK operations manager at Starship Technologies and Cllr Alex Beckett, chair of the council committee. Picture: Keith Heppell
At the launch in Cambourne were, from left, Cllr Neil Shailer, vice-chair of highways and transport committee at Cambridgeshire County Council, Andrew Curtis, UK operations manager at Starship Technologies and Cllr Alex Beckett, chair of the council committee. Picture: Keith Heppell

Cllr Gerri Bird (Lab, Chesterton), who uses a wheelchair, was not against the scheme but did have some worries. She highlighted that some of the pavements in the new areas planned were “not good enough” and asked how the robot would know to go past someone on a mobility scooter or wheelchair.

Cllr Beckett said the robots would stop at a safe distance, and did not have the same time pressures as other delivery drivers.

Cllr Mark Howell (Con, Cambourne) added that if the robot cannot get around something it can be taken over manually, with a remote operator able to see using the camera on the robot.

Cllr Alan Sharp noted the Department for Transport had confirmed delivery robots were not yet defined in legislation.

Groceries from the Co-op can be ordered via an app for robot delivery in Cambourne. Picture: Starship Technologies
Groceries from the Co-op can be ordered via an app for robot delivery in Cambourne. Picture: Starship Technologies

The report said it was “likely” the robots could fall within the definition of a ‘mechanically propelled vehicle’, which would mean they could not be used on pavements. Cllr Sharp said if this ended up being the case he was “not sure where the council could go from there”.

Mr Allatt said: “This is just a trial – we know that there is legislation still to come. We know that the Department for Transport is very interested in this technology and will be putting out legislation in due course. In discussion with other areas that have got these robots running around their networks we felt that it was an appropriate step to almost help that process, to help to understand how this technology can work on the network in a way that is safe.

“As the paper says, it remains the case that legislation is still forthcoming and there is a degree of risk with that and a certain degree that we carry the liability on that. However, we introduced the trial following an extensive technical process to understand the risk and manage the risk and the contract that we have with Starship as part of the trial is flexible and allows us to be very responsive.”

The committee voted to approve the trial, but no start date has yet been given. Starship is to evaluate suitable routes for its robots.



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