Delivery Robot Bill Clears Final Hurdle, Goes to Holcomb

(INDIANAPOLIS) — A bill authorizing delivery robots in Indiana is on its way to Governor Holcomb.

Purdue has used robots for campus food deliveries for a couple of years, and FedEx and Amazon

use them in a handful of cities for short-haul deliveries of items like auto parts and medication. The

Senate has given final approval to a bill making clear those robots are allowed on sidewalks and

crosswalks.

After passing the House unanimously, the bill attracted a dozen no votes in the Senate. Some

senators from both parties want more clarity about cities and towns’ ability to regulate the robots.

The bill bans any local ordinances on how the robots are manufactured or what the can carry, but

Anderson Senator Tim Lanane (D) says the bill should make clear cities can limit where the

robots operate — for instance, keeping them out of historic neighborhoods.

Charlestown Republican Chris Garten says that’s an issue that will take care of itself. He says the

companies which operate the robots have worked with communities to work out those issues

before deploying them, to make sure they don’t go where they’re not wanted.

Indianapolis Senator Greg Taylor (D) says his problem with the bill isn’t that it’s ambiguous, but

that it’s clear. He notes the robot vehicles weigh up to 500 pounds and go as fast as 10 miles an

hour. Taylor argues that’s a safety hazard, and the bill doesn’t create enough oversight. Garten

says there’s a control center where humans can intervene if necessary, but says the technology

allows the robots to stop, back up or change direction to avoid obstacles.

Purdue officials testified there have been no major incidents with the robots, though some have

suffered minor damage when drivers decided to test whether the robots would get out of their way,

and discovered that 10 miles an hour isn’t fast enough to do that.