Sidewalk Showdown: Chicago’s Delivery Robots Spark Safety Debate
A quiet experiment on Chicago’s North Side has turned into a full-blown debate over who — or what — belongs on the sidewalks.
A fleet of delivery robots from Coco and Serve Robotics has been roaming Lakeview as part of a city-run pilot program. At first, many residents found them quirky and amusing. But months in, the tone has shifted — and nearly 700 people have now signed a petition calling for the program to hit pause over safety and accessibility concerns.
For residents like Josh Robertson, the charm wore off once he found himself frequently stepping aside to make room for rolling couriers. Those encounters raised bigger questions: Are these robots making sidewalks safer or more hazardous? More accessible or more cluttered?
As Robertson walked through the neighborhood, he became a regular to some of the bots — Sully, Stacy, Roland — but not always by choice. And he’s not alone.
One neighbor, Anthony Jonas, recalls turning a corner and suddenly colliding with a robot. The visibility flag attached to the unit struck his eyelid, sending him to urgent care for stitches and leaving a lasting scar. Now he’s pursuing legal action and joined the “Sidewalks Are for People” campaign pushing for a pause in the pilot.
The asks are straightforward:
Publish safety and accessibility data
Hold a public hearing
Allow residents to weigh in on the future of sidewalk robots
City leaders say they are gathering feedback, and the pilot — which runs through at least May 2026 — is meant to assess both benefits and risks. Serve and Coco insist they track incidents closely, obey all city regulations, cap their speed at five miles per hour, and slow down near pedestrians. Coco has even offered to meet with petition organizers.
But for Robertson, the issue is simple: sidewalks should prioritize people, not machines. As he puts it, “We’re not anti-tech. We’re pro-people.”
Chicago’s experiment continues — and so does the question at the heart of every public-facing robot deployment: How do we balance innovation with the human experience on the ground?
