San Francisco Tries to Ban Delivery Robots Before They Flatten Someone's Toes

A little more than a month after a startup announced it was unleashing robots to deliver food to San Franciscans, a city lawmaker wants them curbed. Marble's robot is technically semi-autonomous, as a human operator monitors each robot in case it gets in any trouble. But that's not good enough for San Francisco Supervisor Norman Yee, who just proposed legislation to ban delivery robots of all types, saying they're a public safety hazard. "For me to wait for something to happen is silly," Yee says, "because I think it's going to happen." Unlike self-driving cars, autonomous delivery robots roll purposefully on sidewalks, detecting the world around them with cameras and lasers.