Two is A Trend, More Delivery Robots Coming to U.S. Neighborhoods
Earlier in the month we reported that Virginia was the first state to pass a law to allow autonomous terrestrial delivery robots to roam free.
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Today Idaho passed a similar law going into effect July 1, 2017. As in Virginia, the delivery robots are still limited to a max 10 MPH and they must be in constant contact with a home base that can assist in case of a problem or emergency (or curious children).
Wisconsin and Florida also have similar ground based delivery robots legislation in the works, so there is definitely an interest and a trend for this delivery method.
At 10 MPH, don’t expect pizza delivery to return to Domino’s famous and now defunct delivery promise of 30 minutes or less or it is free just yet. But at this rate, local SMBs may be able to get into the autonomous delivery game sooner than expected.
As a side note, we are kind of wondering if tipping is expected for a food delivery robot and who would get the tip…?
The battle for the last delivery mile or total customer convenience is heating up with ground based delivery robots from Starship and other vendors, drones from Amazon, UPS, DHL, etc., and locker pickup locations such 24 hour 7-Eleven stores.
What system do you think will finally prevail? We believe all three will stick around, but we also believe one will become more dominant. We love to hear your thoughts on this.
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Richard Meldner
Richard is co-founder of eSeller365. He has over 17 years of experience on eBay which includes tens of thousands of sales to buyers in over 100 countries and even has experience with eBay’s VeRO program enforcing intellectual property rights for a former employer. And for about two years Richard sold products on Amazon using Amazon FBA in the US.
To “relax” from the daily business grind, for a few weekends a year, he also works for IMSA as a professional race official.