Food delivery robots are struggling to steer clear of Chicago’s bus stop shelters. Within just 48 hours, two autonomous couriers from different companies veered off course and collided with shelters shattering glass and alarming nearby residents. These pair of dramatic incidents come amidst brewing tension among community members and lawmakers in Chicago who oppose the robots’ presence. The crashes also come just weeks after one of the manufacturers announced it was integrating a new mapping system trained on “Pokémon Go” data which is designed to improve navigation accuracy.
It’s tempered glass, so it doesn’t need the support. It also means that it’s designed to shatter in a way that prevents sharp edges. That robot has a lot more power than a human when it hits the glass. Tempered glass does weaken after repeated strong impacts, so that could potentially be part of it as well.