A food delivery robot operated by Serve Robotics crashed into a bus shelter on Grand Avenue in West Town last month, prompting the company to run an apology advertisement at the same location, according to an April 14 report.
The incident has brought renewed attention to Chicago’s ongoing pilot program for sidewalk food delivery robots, which has seen mixed reactions from residents. Videos and photos of the crash quickly spread online, raising concerns about pedestrian safety and the effectiveness of robotic navigation systems.
Serve Robotics is one of two companies authorized to operate food delivery robots in parts of Chicago. Shortly after Serve’s robot broke through the glass at a West Town bus shelter, another robot from Coco—the other participating company—collided with a different bus shelter in Old Town. Both companies said they paid for repairs and that work was completed almost immediately.
The apology ad at Grand near Racine Avenue features a speech bubble from a robot named Nasir stating: “Dear West Town neighbors, I took ‘breaking into the market’ too literally. I’m really sorry about the bus stop … and the dramatic entrance. I promise to do better.”
A spokesperson for Serve Robotics said that during March’s incident, three sensor systems failed simultaneously to detect the glass wall of the shelter but added that steps have been taken since then: “We now treat areas like bus shelters with additional caution, so robots behave more carefully when they’re nearby,” the spokesperson said. “We’ve also improved how the system interprets environments with glass, and we’re updating both our software and next-generation hardware to make detection more reliable.”
Chicago approved its sidewalk delivery robot pilot program in 2022. Coco began operations locally in late 2024; Serve rolled out its robots earlier that September. The city created a dedicated 311 category for reporting safety issues or complaints related to these robots last December.
It remains uncertain whether City Council will extend or end this pilot when it expires in May 2027. In February, Alderman Daniel La Spata declined requests from both companies to expand their service area within his ward due to negative feedback over safety and accessibility.
