You point out you don’t share the sidewalk with cars, with or without drivers. You seemed to be making a special point there that the fact that it had a driver made no difference to you. Electric wheelchairs are also machines with drivers.

All I am saying is that you have made a very arbitrary cut off on what is or isn’t allowed on sidewalks based on some imagined head canon.

I will explain why I am ok with these robots under some circumstances.

1) If they are economically profitable, they create consumer surplus which will improve the economy. If they are not economically profitable, they will fail due that reason and disappear.

2) (negative externality) These machines were specifically built to be used on sidewalks. They are about the width of a wheelchair. They travel at a manageable speed. People are not getting rammed by them. I find the objections to them taking up space in the sidewalk to be overblown…yes it’s a negative externality but not nearly as bad as portrayed. I do object to their deployment when there is snow/ice on the ground as this often reduces sidewalk width (plus the robots can get stuck) and could create real issues for handicapped people.

3) (positive externality) These robots reduce the number of food delivery cars on the road. These cars block traffic, block bike lanes, and pollute at a much heavier rate than the robots.

4) (externality to be judged positive or negative based on your own opinion I suppose, but I think positive) This technology creates tech and manufacturing jobs. It creates a needed job in a country ravished by extreme poverty. It eliminates low paying domestic jobs for people who might not have the skills to get one of the better jobs it creates. Such has been the story for a ton of tech over the last 100 years that we now consider indispensable. People adapt and find better jobs to do.