Bloomfield may be sharing its streets with delivery robots in the near future — a development that has residents of the neighborhood raising concerns about their implementation.
Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure is planning a pilot program to test out personal delivery devices, or PDDs, in Bloomfield this summer. The devices will come from Los Angeles-based Kiwibot.
The six-month pilot program, tentatively set to start in June, is meant to help the city learn more about how the emerging technology could affect communities, according to Erin Clark, a policy analyst at the city agency. Grant funding from the Knight Foundation will be used to operate the program, rather than city funding.
The Pennsylvania Legislature enacted a law last November authorizing the use of PDDs in Pennsylvania and giving the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation sole authority to regulate them. As a result, the city’s mobility and infrastructure officials believe that an influx of PDDs could appear in the city within two years.
Because of the new law, Ms. Clark said, the city does not have the ability to block private companies like Amazon from circulating such devices on city sidewalks and streets.
“We’re in an unfortunate situation potentially where we no longer have the authority to prohibit these companies from deploying if they decide to do that,” she said. “So we have an opportunity now to work with grant funding and Kiwibot to determine other use cases that could serve our communities.
“The goal of this pilot is to create informed local policies that clearly state that if you are going to operate these kinds of devices on our sidewalks, here are the rules. This is what we expect from you regardless of what the state law may allow you to do.”
To encourage community engagement with the pilot program, DOMI and the Bloomfield Development Corporation hosted a public information session Thursday evening, giving residents the opportunity to comment or ask questions.
Questions ranged from the ability of the robots to climb stairs to potential loss of jobs they may create within the community. Yet many focused on safety for people, particularly disabled persons, sharing public spaces with PDDs, as well as liability should an incident occur.
Since state law now considers the devices pedestrians, a resident asked, could a person be charged with assault for pushing one of them?
How would the city handle litigation between companies and residents if one of the devices was damaged along its route, another asked.
Some of their concerns were left without definitive answers.
Ms. Clark, who represented DOMI at the meeting, said Kiwibot has agreed to take on all liability for damaged devices during the pilot program. But the state legislation pre-empts cities from actually regulating the devices, she said, which raise many questions about liability once PDDs arrive en masse.
“There are still a lot of questions about liability that we have not gotten answers about yet,” Ms. Clark said. “In Pittsburgh and in Pennsylvania, the property owner is responsible for their sidewalk. So if the sidewalk infrastructure was crumbled or caused the devices to tip over or be damaged, we have asked PennDOT whether a private company could sue the property owners for damages to the devices.
“We just don’t have those answers, but that’s the reason why we want to start these community discussions.”
Before the end of the session, which lasted for about two hours, Ms. Clark and Bloomfield Development Corporation’s executive director, Christina Howell, said at least three other public meetings will be held throughout the pilot program for residents to air concerns.
A steering committee comprising Bloomfield residents and stakeholders also will be created to assist DOMI with determining use cases for the robots, determining appropriate routes, addressing complaints and overseeing midterm and final evaluations of the program.
First Published: April 26, 2021, 9:27 a.m.
