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These are solved problems in other cities

All anyone has to do is look across the land





Where is this a solved problem? No one likes these things. Seth Rogan reflects the zeitgeist in Platonic.

Los Angeles, including Santa Monica, LA City, West Hollywood others

Los Angeles, including Santa Monica, LA City, West Hollywood others

> A delivery robot collided with a disabled man on L.A. street. The aftermath is getting ugly

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-09-25/viral-vi...

You employ an interesting definition of "solved."


That video is hilarious, the “aftermath” is a funny video and that article, by the way. Thats it

so I’m having this discussion with parts of the country half a decade behind and this is the level of nuance as if it was half a decade ago? Is that what’s happening? Because thats even funnier


So no snow and not much rain?

How are these solved problems when robot deliveries on sidewalks are a new phenomenon? Also, what other cities?

They aren't that new. Starship Technologies, founded in 2014, has performed over 9 million deliveries across 270 locations.

That’s… not many at all, really. You could do it in a year with ninety deliveries per day per location (well, 92).

Assuming a dozen robots per location, that's less than eight deliveries per day per robot (and even that might be beyond their upper bound, actually, given their speed and range).

But then they didn't do it all in one year. So… it doesn't feel like a stretch.

Given how many will be recurring customers with recurring journey routes, it feels barely enough to encounter all the possible unique problems.


Starship is just one company. There are dozens in the west. In China there are hundreds of sidewalk delivery robot start-ups.

We're not talking about all the "Possible unique problems", we're just talking about the really obvious ones that are easy to think up .


My wife is nearing 40 and she had these things delivering food at her midwestern college town back when she was still in school.

Limited rollout and obviously an ideal environment, but these things are nowhere near new.


By new you mean half a decade?

Los Angeles, including Santa Monica, LA City, West Hollywood others

Been around since 2020, multiple companies here

They’ve all gone through several iterations, debates, and approvals to reach symbiosis




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