A rough landing

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NICK EICHER, HOST: Call it a bump in the road. or a glitch in the system.

In Chicago, delivery robots are drawing attention—

SOUND: [Glass shatters]

—after a couple of them crashed straight into glass bus shelters.

AUDIO: I actually felt bad for the little guy. A little bit.

The small, cooler-sized robots are part of a pilot program—testing whether AI-powered deliveries belong on Chicago sidewalks. They’re designed to bring food to your door, and the company is doing its best to humanize the bots:

AUDIO: Over time, it just becomes a normal occurrence … you’re walking down the street, it’s like, ‘oh, there’s Jolene.’

But along comes Josh Robertson and his petition drive to impound Jolene and all her buddies.

ROBINSON: Sidewalks are for people.

I’d hesitate to call this a pilot project, these robots are autonomous. And yet, looks like this is one pilot headed for a grounding.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

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