Prediction: Some startup will create a fully automated robot that requires a gig economy worker with zero control of the device to provide the "muscle power" needed to legally run on sidewalks - a bicyclist-in-a-box purely used for motive power and to take the blame for when the control/steering algorithms crash the robot into a classful of schoolchildren...
How do robots impede people with disabilities? People are just making up scenarios as an excuse to oppose something new and unfamiliar. This all strikes me as completely dishonest. If you want to avoid obstruction, just fine the owners of the robots when they obstruct the sidewalk.
I was surprised at how hostile Canadian cities are for accessibility, until I found out that there's no equivalent to the ADA[0] over there. Something like half the subway stations in Toronto are simply impossible to use for someone in a wheelchair for instance.
I wonder if this ban isn't to give the impression that those in charge are "doing something". It's cheaper to ban a few startups than it is to retrofit stations were engineered to keep handicapped people away.
We absolutely do have accessibility legislation, so not sure where you're getting the idea we don't.
The TTC is gradually adding elevators to old subways where possible (same as New York is) and all new construction for the past 30 years or so has been fully accessible.
For those who are vision or mobility impaired in particular, the bots can provide a tripping hazard or physical obstacle, groups like the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance argue, calling tools like Geoffrey a "a substantial and worrisome new disability barrier impeding people with disabilities in their safe use of public sidewalks and other paths of travel."
I'd expect that the oblivious-to-surroundings-until-last-moment-smartphone user would also be likely to trip over these tiny pink delivery robots. Their occasional glance up from their precious smartphone to check for incoming items works for human-sized objects approaching the smartphone user but would most likely miss these one-foot-high delivery bots.
Readit News
I wonder if this ban isn't to give the impression that those in charge are "doing something". It's cheaper to ban a few startups than it is to retrofit stations were engineered to keep handicapped people away.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_with_Disabilities_Ac...
The TTC is gradually adding elevators to old subways where possible (same as New York is) and all new construction for the past 30 years or so has been fully accessible.
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