It’s not just the AI-generated videos that have caused angst in Hollywood. Our streets are full of driverless Waymo vehicles, covered in more sensors and gadgets than the Batmobile. And our walkways are home to fleets of boxes on wheels, hastily weaving past pedestrians and navigating outdoor bar-hoppers as the robots deliver smoothies and keto-friendly salads.
And it’s only becoming more surreal. This month, Serve Robotics, one of the leading companies behind the food-delivery bots, deployed another 500 of them in 40 neighborhoods across the city. Soon a region already known for its lack of walkability will have more obstacles for pedestrians to contend with.
The expansion has sparked dismay in LA and other US cities as residents debate whether our new neighbors are welcome. Neighboring Glendale is considering a moratorium on the bots; Chicago has also limited their expansion. Worse than the sidewalk frustrations, they mean fewer jobs for delivery drivers, even if some are human-controlled.
On the flip side, they don’t emit exhaust fumes or add to road congestion. And when they’re not accidentally smashing the glass on bus shelters, they achieve R2-D2 levels of cuteness, manipulating and winning us over with little nametags and blinking digital eyes. Is resisting the robots simply denying the future of food delivery?
Workers and residents described mixed feelings about the bots, leaving them conflicted. In the Silverlake neighborhood, for instance, where many drinking and dining establishments seat people along the sidewalk, the devices can be intrusive and disruptive. Pazzo Gelato, a longstanding gelato and coffee shop, is one such place. Lula Ochoa, a barista and server, described the robots as a minor nuisance. “They can block foot traffic,” Ochoa says. “It gets congested in this area in between our tables. Kids will mess with them. They’ll sit on them.”
Further down the street is Millie’s Cafe, a diner-style breakfast spot that’s been around since 1926. For its first nine decades, LA sidewalks were largely robot-free. But recently things have been different – a particular issue at a restaurant whose outdoor seating is frequently packed. “We loathe them,” said one staff member, who asked to remain anonymous, describing the robots. “They’re obstructing the way and they’re hitting people.” Across the street at Kreation, a trendy destination for pressed juices, staff worry about job losses for drivers as well as challenges for people using wheelchairs.
On weekend evenings, roughly 80% of LA’s intimidatingly beautiful people gather outside the nearby wine bar Seco, creating a dense corridor of apparent models and actors that is difficult to navigate even without robots. Wandering into the crowds, “they get stuck and when they finally get through, people cheer”.
His friends, he said, “both pity them and hate them”. The pity was evident, for instance, during recent rainstorms, when a delivery robot went viral as it struggled, postal-service style, to make its appointed rounds. “She’s doing her best, you guys,” says Mona, who recorded the clip. It’s virtually impossible not to assign personalities to the robots, whose behavior can be almost painfully adorable: when they are stuck at a crosswalk, unable to push the button for a “walk signal”, Serve robots will show a message to human bystanders: “Push crosswalk button for me?”
There is indeed something inspiring about the robots’ apparent determination, despite the knowledge that no actual grit is involved. And their ability to function in harsh weather could have safety benefits. Times when the weather is terrible, and driving is less safe, “are the exact times when there’s a surge of orders. Though I understand people’s frustrations about the robots, I’m less bothered by them – they’re an inconvenience but part of modern life. It’s change – the hardest thing for people to accept is change.” And in the case of physical robots, that technological shift is “more in your face” than when it’s on a computer screen.
Turbulence was always inevitable. “Any new tech is going to have its bugs.” Delivery robots have thus far not killed anybody, though some dangerous events have been reported. A New Jersey cyclist says a robot by the company Avride hit him and then started to leave the scene but was stopped by a witness; he reportedly suffered a head injury and broken collarbone. A video of a robot shattering the glass wall of a bus shelter in Chicago also made the rounds. And in a mildly dystopian incident, a Waymo collided with a delivery robot in LA in 2024, though neither was damaged.