Authorities in San Francisco have approved new regulations for the use of autonomous delivery robots within the city . Under the rules , the robots will be restricted to travelling at 3 mph , their travel routes will be restricted to sparsely - populated industrial areas and they will need to be controlled by a human supervisor . It’s being argued that these restrictions are short-sighted, as they could prevent companies from perfecting these machines through that kind of rigorous, real-world testing. While more permissive than the initially proposed outright ban , the Association for Home Automation Association 's Bob Doyle argued the regulations are far too restrictive , saying they " drastically slow down the pace of testing and the potential for these being put into [ use before ] the general public " .
Authorities in San Francisco have approved new regulations for the use of autonomous delivery robots within the city . Under the rules , the robots will be restricted to travelling at 3 mph , their travel routes will be restricted to sparsely - populated industrial areas and they will need to be controlled by a human supervisor . While more permissive than the initially proposed outright ban , the Association for Home Automation Association 's Bob Doyle argued the regulations are far too restrictive , saying they " drastically slow down the pace of testing and the potential for these being put into [ use before ] the general public " .