They have eyes, wheels and a purpose.
Automated delivery robots have started popping up recently in Downtown Long Beach, carrying food to awaiting app users, and the city is trying to craft rules for when and how they’re allowed to operate. For now, it’s something of a free-for-all with robots and humans learning to coexist with each other on local sidewalks.
“The City of Long Beach is not currently licensing these types of businesses,” city spokesperson Stacia Momburg said in an email.
Three city departments are working to develop a “local ordinance and/or a fee-based permit program” by researching what other cities have done to regulate the robots, Momburg said.
Until an ordinance is in place, the autonomous delivery devices can use sidewalks like any other pedestrian.
If they violate other rules, such as obstructing public right of ways, running into people or crossing streets against a red light, their operators could be cited, according to the city.
The four-wheeled rovers use three cameras, GPS and artificial intelligence to navigate sidewalks, according to Serve Robotics — one of the companies that produces the robots.
They use crosswalks on their own and brake to avoid collisions with cars coming out of parking lots, but they also have a human operator supervising their movements, said company spokesperson Aduke Thelwell.
Most deliveries range between a mile and a mile-and-a-half. The robots have a maximum speed between 7 and 11 mph depending on the model, Thelwell said.
Some locals have raised concerns about the robots, which don’t always function as promised.
On Jan. 28, Downtown Long Beach resident Victoria Cheveney emailed Councilmember Mary Zendejas’ office to ask about current regulations for the robots and describe a “strange encounter” with one.
Cheveney was out walking with a group of friends after dinner in late January when they spotted what looked like “a big cooler on wheels” stopped in the middle of the crosswalk at the intersection of Broadway and Long Beach Boulevard, Cheveney said.
Cheveney and her friends got closer to the robot to figure out what it was and why it was stopped in the road. When they approached, the robot started sounding a siren and emitting flashing red lights, she said.
While they were trying to make sense of the scene, a woman pulled over in a car and accosted Cheveney and her group for impeding the robot’s progress, Cheveney said.
Eventually, the woman got in her car and sped off, and the robot continued with its delivery, but the experience was jarring for Cheveney.
“I think you can’t, nor do I want to, stop technology from improving our lives, … but I think we definitely have to be able to manage it so that the public is safe,” Cheveney said.
She likened the robots’ sudden appearance to e-scooters, which seemingly appeared overnight in downtowns throughout the United States and sent lawmakers scrambling to regulate their use.
Serve Robotics has operated units in Los Angeles since 2019 and inked a deal with Uber Eats in July 2023.
In recent weeks, Serve Robotics expanded to Long Beach but declined to say how many robots were currently operating in the city.
Currently, there is no way to guarantee your Uber Eats order gets delivered by a robot, but there are “hotspots where it’s more likely,” Thelwell said.
Serve Robotics’s models have names like Otto, Luna or Snack-E and were designed to be “loveable and cartoonish,” Thelwell said.
Although there have been isolated incidents where people try to steal the robots or the food they carry inside, in general, people want to help the robots on their way, Thelwell said.
“Our goal is to make delivery faster, more affordable and more reliable,” Thelwell said. “One of the many benefits of robots is they’re more predictable.”
Serve Robotics does have staff tasked with running out and collecting a robot that gets a flat tire or gets stuck in some other way.
Cheveney, who has lived in Downtown Long Beach for 10 years, said she often sees the robots while walking around her neighborhood near Broadway and Linden Avenue.
Her main concern was how the robots would navigate busy sidewalk traffic on weekends, but she said she’s “very pleased” that the city was working on an ordinance.