A 78-year-old retired college professor in the US city of Philadelphia was arrested after allegedly refusing to let a self-driving delivery robot pass.
Carolyn Marvin, a retired communications professor at the University of Pennsylvania, was returning home after getting a flu shot when she encountered an Uber Eats delivery robot and stood in its path. She stood at the spot until a crowd gathered and police were called. Marvin allegedly refused repeated instructions from officers to move, following which she was issued a citation for disorderly conduct. However, following her arrest, she learned about an unusual aspect of Pennsylvania law. The law requires motorists to yield to these devices at crosswalks, while the robots must also give way to pedestrians and cyclists. “Machines in general encroach on our lives. Public space is the most visible place where they’re encroaching on our lives, but they’re going right up the ladder, and lots of people are interested in making that happen,” she added. Despite her arrest, Marvin has no plans to stop obstructing the delivery robots.
Under the state’s Act 106 of 2020, autonomous delivery machines, officially known as personal delivery devices, are classified as pedestrians under the Vehicle Code and are granted several similar rights and responsibilities. She joked that the biggest consequence of her actions might be an office worker receiving their lunchtime meal slightly late. (Also Read: San Francisco startup offered $20 an hour to walk robot dogs for AI training, no experience required ) Marvin said her actions are aimed at drawing attention to concerns about delivery workers potentially losing their jobs, pedestrian safety and privacy risks associated with cameras installed on the machines.
The incident took place earlier this month, according to a report by CNN. Officers responded to the scene after receiving a report of criminal mischief involving a robot, a Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson told The Independent. Marvin told CNN that she has spent months deliberately obstructing the machines to raise concerns about their impact on public spaces, employment and privacy. “I was under the impression that I had more rights than the robot did,” she told the outlet. Marvin said she only blocks the machines when it is “convenient and possible”, estimating that she typically delays them by around 10 to 15 minutes. “I also think that I have a First Amendment right to protest the abuses of corporations in public space, in the same public space that the robots are occupying,” she told CNN. The retired professor said that delivery robots have no place on sidewalks, viewing them as another example of technology encroaching on everyday life. “There’s a way in which we’ve surrendered the streets to cars long ago, and I don’t think we should surrender the sidewalks to machines,” she told CNN. When asked whether she intended to continue her protests, she responded, “Oh yeah.”
