NEW delivery robots on Gloucester Road have sparked safety fears after a councillor’s dog was almost run over.
The small robots have been delivering takeaways in the Gloucester Road area since February as part of a trial launched by Just Eat.
Bristol City Council was not informed about the trial in advance and does not have a policy on the use of delivery robots. It’s unclear what powers the council has to manage them, if any. Council staff have been asked to investigate how the trial is being conducted and what permission was required.
The robots were raised during a member forum meeting last month, when it emerged that Green Councillor Emma Edwards’s dog, Flora, narrowly avoided getting hit by a robot.
Responding to the concerns, Just Eat said that they had not been contacted by the council with any specific concerns, and risk assessments were carried out ahead of the trial.
Green Councillor Ed Plowden, chair of the transport policy committee, said: “Emma’s dog was nearly run over by one of these a couple of days ago. It’s a very small dog so it may be that the tech bros need to do some more work. But there’s a wider point here. We’ve got people like this company dumping risk onto the people of Bristol.
“They’re paying very low wages, they’re not assessing the safety of the vehicles being used from which they’re deriving profit, they’re putting a lot of risk on the people who work for them, but that risk is being externalised onto the people of Bristol, whether that’s robots or human beings powering what are basically illegal vehicles.”
Bishopston & Ashley Down Cllr Edwards told the Voice that Flora, a five-year-old Yorkshire terrier, had been unharmed by the encounter, although it had given her quite a fright.
She said: “I was just walking her down the Gloucester Road. The robots are electric and so I didn’t hear it coming but I saw the lights. Flora was on her lead so I was able to yank her out the way in time.
“The robots have sensors to stop them hitting people and street furniture, but because Flora is so small I don’t think they detected her. I can imagine them being an issue around vulnerable pavement users and becoming quite a hazard.”
The delivery robots are designed specifically for pedestrian environments and operate at low speeds on pavements. The trial is in partnership with Delivers.AI.
A Just Eat spokesperson said: “We work hard to operate in a safe and responsible way, collaborating closely with local authorities. We have clear guidelines in place to ensure our independent couriers meet all licensing and insurance requirements. We regularly share with them up-to-date safety information and last year we were the first delivery aggregator to partner with leading road safety charity Brake.
“We’re working with an expert partner on a small-scale ground robotics trial in Bristol. As in any town or city where these personal delivery devices are used there has been extensive planning and risk assessment to ensure the technology can safely travel through the local environment. We’ll continue to gather feedback from the community on the trial.”
Just Eat said couriers earn on average significantly over the national living wage for the time they are on an order.
By Alex Seabrook, Local Democracy Reporting Service