Cities at Risk: Preparing for robots has to start now
- Jul 18
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 19
Author: Lee St James
Date Published: July 18, 2025
Public-area mobile robots (PMRs) are becoming increasingly common in communities around the world. Performing tasks as varied as delivering fast food and small packages from local businesses to nearby homes and offices, to cleaning floors in malls and airports, from autonomously mowing parks and fields to de-icing sidewalks. But there is an emerging regulatory gap between national, state/provincial and municipal levels of government that has created a significant risk for cities and their residents.
Cities Unprepared
Monash University (Australia) research has found that [even] some of the world’s leading robot cities do not have adequate policies to protect the public’s interests. The study, published in May 2025 in the Journal of Asian Public Policy, analysed six cities across Asia to assess how well they are preparing for a future with more robots in public spaces. The cities Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei, and Tokyo were chosen based on their high robot density.
The research examined seven key areas of concern including safety, privacy and ethics, productivity, aesthetics, co-creation, equitable access, and innovation. While safety concerns have generally been addressed, the study found that limited attention is being paid to other issues that impact economic and social wellbeing. https://www.monash.edu/mada/news/2025/cities-unprepared-for-social-and-economic-impact-of-robots
Lead researcher Professor Michael Mintrom, from the Monash School of Social Sciences, said one of the concerns was that governments rarely engage with citizens to learn about their hopes and fears regarding the growing presence of robots.
Regulatory Gaps
While some countries are making progress in updating their national transportation regulations to reflect the emergence of automated vehicles (e.g. robotaxis), very few have integrated policy frameworks for 'delivery' robots and fewer still reflect the broader need to plan for the wide variety of use cases for PMRs. The biggest regulatory gap comes from the lack of clarity regarding liability and authority.
Regulations for PMRs are not the exclusive domain of transportation authorities, yet that is where most of the attention has been placed so far. Policy makers and urban planners need to address the implications of having mobile robots not just on roads (and crosswalks/intersections), but on sidewalks, bicycle paths, in public parks and on shared walkways. There are additional complications to sort out the responsibility for policies, bylaws and regulations that govern indoor public spaces like shopping malls, hospitals, and airports. These challenges must be addressed to ensure accessibility and liveable cities.
The Urban Robotics Foundation was founded on the principle of bringing together stakeholders to prepare for the successful deployment of PMRs and to optimize the benefits while minimizing the risks of these innovations. Our Executive Guide to PMRs was designed to introduce the important concepts to leaders; we have hosted webinars covering a wide variety of topics related to municipal readiness, social acceptance of PMRs, and more. Bern Grush, URF's Executive Director, presented a White Paper at the IEEE Smart Mobility Conference in September 2024 titled: " A Regulatory Roadmap for Public-area Mobile Robots" which is the foundation for URF's July 23rd workshop titled: "Developing a Regulatory Roadmap for Urban Robots"
"The widespread deployment and the societal acceptance of smart mobility technologies will depend not only on the maturity of the technology but also on the availability of a well-developed governance framework and the proper city planning to accommodate these evolving technologies." - Bern Grush, URF Executive Director
Regulatory Challenges for PMRs
URF's March 2025 blog post addressed the following regulatory challenges that face all levels of government:
The regulation/innovation gap
Systemic barriers to innovation
Social considerations for innovation
Enforcement capacity is a forgotten dimension
Behavioral standards
Strategic implementation approaches
Balancing innovation and stability
Social Acceptance of PMRs
Although mobile robots have been around industrial warehouses and factories for decades, they are appearing more often now in public spaces and being used for a variety of tasks around 'bystanders'. So how do people interact with these robots when they have not had any training? What are robot designers doing to help people be more comfortable? How can we collaborate to improve human-robot interactions?
In January 2025, URF hosted a webinar titled: "Exploring Human-Robot Interactions: When mobile robots enter public spaces". A blog post with a link to the webinar recording and summarizing the session is available here: https://www.urbanroboticsfoundation.org/post/exploring-human-robot-interaction-webinar-recording-and-highlights
Benefits: Economic, Environmental and Accessibility
A July 2025 article in Macleans magazine shone a spotlight on some of URF's members who are implementing delivery robots: Real Life Robotics, the City of Markham, Starship Technologies and Serve Robotics, and the economic benefits of leveraging these technologies. It also highlighted the importance of pilot testing now to mitigate risk, help the technology improve and learn how best to deploy these innovations.
"For all their benefits, these kinds of robots have so far struggled to get off the ground in Canada because municipal politicians are worried about flooding busy city sidewalks with undertested technology." - Sharif Virani, Real Life Robotics
"Automated delivery isn’t a cute gimmick. It can have a tangible economic impact at a time when small-business owners sorely need it." To read the full article, click here: https://macleans.ca/society/send-in-the-delivery-robots/
The benefits are not just economic. As documented in URF's 2024 Discovery Guide to PMRs, "Depending on how they are deployed, PMRs offer opportunities distributed among four key stakeholders: municipal, environmental, accessibility community, and commercial interests (here represented in the figure below by fleet operators offering logistics, maintenance, security, and other services)."
Where to from here?
Did your city experience a smooth or a chaotic deployment of escooters and electric bikes? Do you have a plan for how your city can be better prepared for robots in public spaces? If you're interested in getting up to speed quickly, figuring out how to mitigate risk and maximize the positive impact of PMRs, please register today to attend our July 23rd workshop: Developing a Regulatory Roadmap for Urban Robotics. This virtual, 90-minute workshop is free for URF members and only $50/person for non-members.
If this date/time does not work for you, please contact us to let us know your interest. We are planning additional workshops in the fall/winter and in various time zones as demand warrants.
Workshop Agenda (July 23, 2025 - 10-11:30am EST):
1. Deployment Pillars and Technology Readiness
Given the expected surge in PMR demand and supply in the coming years, URF offers a
framework for effective deployment of PMRs and assessing community readiness for
technology adoption.
2. Beyond Safety: New ISO Standards for Deployment
Reviewing the core components of ISO-4448 Intelligent transport systems - Public-area
Mobile Robots.
3. Limitations of Early Regulations
Drawing on existing regulations in Europe, Asia, and the US., we will summarize the latest
regulatory developments and discuss the gaps and challenges of harmonization between
geographies and levels of government.
4. Why a Regulatory Roadmap? Why Now?
Sharing our 'go now but go slow framework' for developing regulations (and municipal bylaws)
in stages to mitigate risks and maximize value.
5. Phase 1 - High-Level Regulatory Roadmap (exercise)
Creating a high-level roadmap based on your scope of responsibilities, priority use case(s)
and stakeholder readiness.
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