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Why not send a bicyclist to deliver pizza then? The pizza delivery robot is a solution to an already solved problem and which creates problems for everybody el

Why not send a bicyclist to deliver pizza then? The pizza delivery robot is a solution to an already solved problem and which creates problems for everybody else. The bike lane is for bicyclists and the like, no autonomous motorized things should be on them, bicyclists requested them for a long time and finally have them. If the robo-delivery things prove so popular they may apply for their own type of lanes

crackercrews 5y ago
> Why not send a bicyclist to deliver pizza then? Because the business plan that they sold VCs on involves autonomous delivery, of course.
Dylan16807 5y ago
> Why not send a bicyclist to deliver pizza then? ...are you asking why autonomous robots exist? Like, at all?
- bordercases 5y ago
  No, just in this case.
jayd16 5y ago
>Why not send a bicyclist to deliver pizza then? Humans cost $30k+ a year, no?
- II2II 5y ago
  No. Restaurant delivery is not a full time job and it is not a job that pays particularly well, particularly after factoring in expenses. Tips may make up for some of that, but it is an expense for the customer rather than the restaurant. Autonomous delivery also has questionable benefits. Moving at 15 MPH, and likely being prohibited from using certain roads, means several vehicles would take the place of the more traditional delivery driver in a car. The restaurant would also be responsible for paying for upkeep of these vehicles. (If they have contracts with a company to operate these vehicles, they would be more aggressive at recovering their expenses than the typical owner-operator delivery driver.)
  - jayd16 5y ago
    Pizzas as still getting delivered every day over at least an 8 hour window. A restaurant has to pay for that many man hours whether its the same human full time or not. In California that's $14/hr. In Austin I guess its still $7.25 an hour. I'm not saying this robot is a great idea, just that humans are expensive.
  - Dylan16807 5y ago
    > Tips may make up for some of that, but it is an expense for the customer rather than the restaurant. Even ignoring how costs all add up eventually and affect consumer choice, if you can promise I don't have to pay a tip you can directly increase your delivery fee by $3 and I'll still be happier picking the robot.
  - imtringued 5y ago
    We have machines to get rid of pointless busy work.
unishark 5y ago
> Why not send a bicyclist to deliver pizza then? Ok. But when this bike takes up exactly as much space in the bike lane as the robot would have, what have we gained? Theoretically the robot could take up less space since it doesn't need to be powerful enough for street speeds. Speaking of which, drivers of cars must similarly share their lanes with self-driving cars.
- InvertedRhodium 5y ago
  A general societal increase in the average level of cardiovascular health which flows onto reduced health costs and a normalisation of cycling in general are two things I can think of off the top of my head.
  - unishark 5y ago
    Fair enough. While it was a rhetorical question, I have a couple counters too: increased spread of communicable diseases like coronavirus, highly-skilled robotics jobs traded for low-skill delivery jobs.
    - thatcat 5y ago
      Those are just generic talking points that could apply to any automation

crackercrews 5y ago

> Why not send a bicyclist to deliver pizza then? Because the business plan that they sold VCs on involves autonomous delivery, of course.

Dylan16807 5y ago

> Why not send a bicyclist to deliver pizza then? ...are you asking why autonomous robots exist? Like, at all?

bordercases 5y ago
No, just in this case.

jayd16 5y ago

>Why not send a bicyclist to deliver pizza then? Humans cost $30k+ a year, no?

II2II 5y ago
No. Restaurant delivery is not a full time job and it is not a job that pays particularly well, particularly after factoring in expenses. Tips may make up for some of that, but it is an expense for the customer rather than the restaurant. Autonomous delivery also has questionable benefits. Moving at 15 MPH, and likely being prohibited from using certain roads, means several vehicles would take the place of the more traditional delivery driver in a car. The restaurant would also be responsible for paying for upkeep of these vehicles. (If they have contracts with a company to operate these vehicles, they would be more aggressive at recovering their expenses than the typical owner-operator delivery driver.)
- jayd16 5y ago
  Pizzas as still getting delivered every day over at least an 8 hour window. A restaurant has to pay for that many man hours whether its the same human full time or not. In California that's $14/hr. In Austin I guess its still $7.25 an hour. I'm not saying this robot is a great idea, just that humans are expensive.
- Dylan16807 5y ago
  > Tips may make up for some of that, but it is an expense for the customer rather than the restaurant. Even ignoring how costs all add up eventually and affect consumer choice, if you can promise I don't have to pay a tip you can directly increase your delivery fee by $3 and I'll still be happier picking the robot.
- imtringued 5y ago
  We have machines to get rid of pointless busy work.

unishark 5y ago

> Why not send a bicyclist to deliver pizza then? Ok. But when this bike takes up exactly as much space in the bike lane as the robot would have, what have we gained? Theoretically the robot could take up less space since it doesn't need to be powerful enough for street speeds. Speaking of which, drivers of cars must similarly share their lanes with self-driving cars.

InvertedRhodium 5y ago
A general societal increase in the average level of cardiovascular health which flows onto reduced health costs and a normalisation of cycling in general are two things I can think of off the top of my head.
- unishark 5y ago
  Fair enough. While it was a rhetorical question, I have a couple counters too: increased spread of communicable diseases like coronavirus, highly-skilled robotics jobs traded for low-skill delivery jobs.
  - thatcat 5y ago
    Those are just generic talking points that could apply to any automation