Bolt is considering robotic delivery in Ukraine as part of Bolt Food, but a number of issues need to be resolved. In addition, a full-scale war introduces its own nuances in this context.
Bolt is considering robotic delivery in Ukraine as part of Bolt Food, but a number of issues need to be resolved. In addition, a full-scale war introduces its own nuances in this context.
As Senior Product Manager of Bolt Food Dmytro Petryk noted in an interview with SPEKA, plans for robotic delivery have already been discussed with the Ministry of Digital Economy, but pilot projects in this direction will likely be launched after the end of the war.
A Bolt representative reminded that the unmanned Robot Delivery currently operates only in Tallinn, Estonia. «There we cooperate with the company Starship, which provides us with ground robots. We are still looking at potential areas of scaling,» he commented.
Dmytro Petryk added that there is also interest in robotic delivery in Ukraine, and the Ministry of Digital Affairs held a meeting on this topic with Bolt, Glovo, and Uklon.
«We have a lot of local manufacturers of NRK (ground robotic complexes). They are working for the front now, but at some point they will be interested in using their products for civilian needs. The Ministry of Digital Affairs understands this, we shared our experience in Tallinn,» said Senior Product Manager Bolt Food.
At the same time, during a full-scale war, launching such a service, according to him, is extremely difficult, because during Russian shelling, electronic warfare is operational, and GPS goes astray.
«There are also problems with infrastructure — unmanned robots need good markings and space, and right now investing in urban infrastructure in Ukraine is obviously not a priority. But in the future this could be a very strong advantage. As soon as the war is over, we can return to this issue and do some kind of pilot project,» he assured.
In addition, as the company representative added, an important stage in the implementation of unmanned and robotic delivery is the development of legal regulations, which currently do not exist. In particular, such rules should determine whether a robot courier is a vehicle and who will be liable in the event of an accident.
As dev.ua reported, the administration of US President Donald Trump has announced a ban on the import of new Chinese robots. This is intended to protect the American artificial intelligence infrastructure from threats to national security.
Instead, China has completely taken over the humanoid robot market. 97% of global supplies come from there.
