They’re the delivery drivers who don’t say much when they drop off your food. Despite their lack of conversation skills, self-driving robots are taking over the streets of Miami.

Yet, some residents have mixed feelings about them.

“I find them to be a little bit annoying, inconvenient,” said Isabella Priest, who lives in the area. 

“I like the robots because if you didn’t have the robots, you would have a million bicycle riders from Grubhub,” said Susan, who also lives in the area.

Technology is changing the food service landscape

Serve Robotics Inc. is one of the companies providing their AI-operated, self-driving delivery robots for service in South Florida.

“Everything is fully integrated through the Uber Eats app. Once you get to the check-out page of the merchant, there is a toggle that, as the consumer, you have the power to turn on or off,” Partnership manager Los Nevarez said. “If you leave it on, you have the possibility of getting matched with a robot for your delivery. If you are someone who tips in advance, once you get that robot delivery, you get that tip refunded to you.”

There’s no one operating these robots; they get around on their own.

“It is the computer on board, the AI that’s making the driving decisions. So, it’s taking data from all its different sensors, it’s five cameras, all of these different sensors are providing it that safe path to traverse throughout the city,” said Nevarez.

These robots operate on the sidewalks, can cross streets and typically travel 3 to 5 mph.

They only deliver to places that are no more than 1.25 miles from the restaurant.

Some restaurants seeing a boost in business

Merchants like Rice Mediterranean say the robots have boosted their business substantially.

“It’s a lot, more than a hundred orders daily,” said Pierre El Kossaifi, general manager at Rice Mediterranean.

Once the merchant loads the food into the robot, the door locks, and it’s on its way to its destination.

The person who orders it gets a notification on their phone to unlock it. You press the button on the robot, then dinner is served.

The serve robots operate off an 18-hour battery, and when you see them congregated together, they’re still “on the clock.”

Mixed reviews 

They’re the delivery drivers of the future, but they’re here today, despite mixed feelings about their existence.

“They’re bad, they should take them away! They contest the sidewalk,” said Mohamad Alrasheed.

“I like them. I don’t think they’ve gotten in the way or stopped a lot of traffic or anything like that. The more robotic and new age we get, that’s just what it’s going to be,” said Nick Cavil.

If the robots do get stuck, there is an operator who is alerted to help navigate them out.

For more information about these robots and how they operate, check out https://www.serverobotics.com.