Virginia: First In Legalizing Delivery Robots

Virginia is probably not the first name that comes to mind when thinking of technological advancements, but Virginia is about to be the first state—or perhaps commonwealth, though there’s no real functional difference—to legalize delivery robots using sidewalks and crosswalks.

The new rules kick in July 1, following the signature of such legislation by Governor Terry McAuliff on the advice of Starship Technologies, a robotics firm located in Estonia.

The rules require the delivery robots travel no faster than 10 miles per hour, weigh no more than 50 pounds, and be under “close monitoring” by the delivery company involved. There are even provisions for the legislation to be amended as required by local groups or even completely overturned, which seems like a colossal cop-out from here.

Several businesses sent letters of support McAuliff’s way, including both Amazon and Grubhub, who won’t be getting direct benefits out of this but may be able to put the concept to use later on down the line. Potentially, the duo could use Virginia as a testing ground, which could prove helpful going forward.

Of course, this is about the lightest jump into the fray that anyone could have ever taken, which isn’t exactly great news for delivery robots. It’s actually built into the law that it can be effectively overridden by just about anyone with a gavel.

Worse, the strictures built into the law effectively cripple the actual use of said delivery robots. Not only are the robots required to move only somewhat faster than a normal human’s running speed—so you can forget about any delivery over about three miles or so—but they’re also seemingly required to stick to ground routes.

That leaves out a lot of possibilities for air-based delivery, which further restricts delivery distance.

This isn’t exactly the greatest condition for drone delivery systems, which means we’ll still likely be quite a ways away from ordering and paying for things on a mobile device and having these delivered by drone to our location.

However, if we just look at this as a starting point, then we can take some hope…especially if we don’t stop here. Still, we have to use this as a start, not an end; there’s too much opportunity at stake to not.