Picture: Kiwibot
Autonomous vehicles and robotics are coming to the forefront of the mobility industry to tackle the issue of sustainability in smart cities. Innovation solutions are continually being piloted to tackle sustainability issues and to make cities smarter.
Kiwibot is a robotic delivery company that aims to reduce costs for restaurants and help planet move to a zero-carbon future. It is a robotic fleet operated by Kiwibot that ensures sustainable modes of accessibility. As cities grow and become even more populated, there is a great challenge of complex mobility landscapes which Kiwibot hopes to tackles
Cities in the US reportedly could spend around $40 billion over 30 years repairing their streets and sidewalks to ensure the safety of their citizens.
Kiwibot says that even a simple pizza delivery robot will eventually reduce the costs of repairing processes by sharing data about street conditions and pedestrian traffic while they make deliveries.
Using a cost-effective cyberinfrastructure and automatic data collection, the company has been able to build real-time map data and collect data for better city planning which aims to lead to policy changes.
Many are hesitant about the take-over by robots. However, robotic delivery fleets offer many benefits that lead to more sustainable solutions within cities.
Robotic fleets are able to reduce pollution, carbon emissions and reduce traffic congestion no matter what cargo they carry. Kiwibot alone has said “we have carried out 200,000 zero-emission deliveries and avoided 53852.37 miles in car trips”.
Using this delivery method would reduce the carbon footprint within cities significantly and create delivery services that are sustainable for local communities. They enable small businesses to use low-cost delivery services and eliminate any issues of human interference.
Alternatively, people have very little trust in robotic takeovers. Data privacy is at the forefront of this revolution, and this must be addressed to ensure that robotic deployment is safe and ethical.
In February 2021, the Mckinsley Global institute predicted that 45 million Americans would lose their jobs to automation by 2030. However, this huge number is not as alarming as you may think. Automation has happened continuously over the last 150 years. From farmers to factories, manual workers to machines, automation only changes jobs rather than takes them.
Kiwibot has said that they always have a people-centered approach, with their machines having a friendly smile and digital eyes that wink which allows for a “further emotional connection with local businesses”
