Seal of Approval for Delivery Robots Could Become Final Next Week

(INDIANAPOLIS) — You’re a step closer to getting your next pizza delivery by robot.
The Senate could vote next week to let delivery robots operate alongside pedestrians on streets
and sidewalks. It’s not illegal now — Purdue has had robot deliveries for a couple of years. But the
bill would remove potential ambiguity and explicitly make them legal.
Delivery companies including Amazon and FedEx, and businesses including Pizza Hut,
Walgreens, and AutoZone, use robot fleets to make immediate short-haul deliveries. The bots are
about the size of a picnic cooler and move about as fast as you can walk, with sensors telling
them when they need to back up or go around an obstacle.
Purdue procurement manager Brett Decker says the giant mountains of plowed snow after last
month’s storm stumped the robots, but they’ve otherwise operated problem-free. He says the bots
have been overwhelmingly popular, with students able to have food or coffee waiting for them when
they leave class or when they arrive for their next one.
Jenna Knepper with the local government group AIM says cities and towns are “excited” about the
robots, as long as they can set rules on things like where the robots are allowed to operate. The
bill authored by Evansville Representative Holli Sullivan (R) would prohibit cities and towns from
banning the robots entirely, limiting what they can carry, or regulating their design, but would allow
other local rules.
FedEx lobbyist Chris Mitchum says the bill is written broadly to allow new robot technologies, as
long as they meet basic operating and safety standards.
“1971, I remember the lunar rover rolling across the surface of the moon,” recalls Wadesville Senator Jim Tomes (R). “I could never have imagined its cousin would be delivering a gasket for my CJ-5 Jeep.”
Indiana would be the ninth state to expressly legalize delivery robots. The House unanimously approved the bill last month.