MADISON- Governor Walker signed a bill on Thursday which allows delivery robots to operate on sidewalks and crosswalks. This bill makes Wisconsin the third state in the country to permit delivery robots. According to the bill, robots delivering packages in Wisconsin must weigh less than 80 pounds, and cannot travel faster than 10 miles per hour.
April Glaser at Recode reports:
Today the governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, signed a new law permitting the use of delivery robots on crosswalks and sidewalks across the state.
In most places in the U.S., it’s not necessarily legal for a robot to roll around on a sidewalk. But now three states — Wisconsin, Idaho and Virginia — have passed statewide laws permitting the use of robots to deliver items to people’s doorsteps.
In March, Virginia was the first state in the country to pass a law broadly allowing delivery robots. Then Idaho passed a similar law later that same month.
All three states’ robot delivery proposals were introduced with the help of Starship Technologies, a robot company that makes a rover designed to deliver packages, like food and items ordered online, direct to your door. Starship has lobbyists who worked on the proposals.
The Wisconsin law places an 80-pound weight limit on the robots and doesn’t permit the machines to travel faster than 10 miles per hour. The robots are also required to have a person in the loop to take over control in case something goes awry.
Read more at Recode.
