The future is here! Your next grocery or online shopping order may come via robot.
Self-driving delivery vehicles have officially begun operating in select Toronto neighbourhoods, after Magna International Inc.’s pilot program Last Mile Delivery Device (LMDD) was approved by Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation.
The three-wheeled high-tech delivery robots are roughly the size of a large cargo bike and the height of a typical sedan. Equipped with secure compartments for small packages, they are only able to be opened by customers with a unique multi-digit code.
Up to 20 will be tested in central Toronto, within boundaries that stretch north to Eglinton Avenue, east to Avenue Road, south to College Street and Queen Street, and west to Parkside Drive and Keele Street. The Junction neighbourhood is also included in the testing zone.
For now, they will operate with human supervision and follow a number of safety precautions, including a maximum speed of 32 km/h, no left turns, and always have human support nearby. The vehicles are also restricted to roads with a maximum speed limit of 40 km/h.
As for privacy and data concerns, Magna states that it will follow cybersecurity standards and is limiting personal data collection to only what’s necessary. While vehicle license plates will be automatically blurred in the system’s data recordings, pedestrian faces will not.
The company claims this is important for the vehicle’s AI to assess human behavior, such as detecting whether a person is about to cross the street.
As the pilot falls under Ontario Transportation, the City of Toronto has no regulatory power over the project, won’t have access to any footage that includes personal data nor require or retain any camera data from the pilot.
To find more information on the program, you can visit the Ministry of Transportation’s webpage here.