A 78-year-old was arrested for blocking an Uber Eats robot in Philly. Now a lawmaker wants to tax every robot delivery

Police said she ignored “multiple commands” to move, resulting in a criminal violation notice for disorderly conduct. Marvin plans to contest it on First Amendment grounds.

What the bill would do

Harrity’s measure reaches beyond food. It would also charge driverless taxi services like Waymo, which is testing cars in Philadelphia, $1 per ride or 5% of the fare, and add a 3% tax on driverless freight vehicles. Companies would have to register with the city and file quarterly reports.

Harrity said the aim is to protect jobs. “In a perfect world,” he said, “no one will pay the tax because they’ll just ban the robots.” The rates could still be adjusted as the bill moves through committee, according to PhillyVoice.

He added that the tax intends to help cover revenue the city stands to lose from its wage tax and its business income and receipts tax because of the technologies.

Uber Eats robots are run by a third-party company, Avride, not Uber itself.

But Philadelphia’s options may be limited. A 2020 state law, Act 106, gives the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation regulatory authority over the devices, and state law bars municipalities from regulating how the devices operate, with exceptions that include banning them where the city deems them hazardous.

How other big cities are handling robots

Philadelphia isn’t the only city dealing with robotic rideshares and deliveries. For example, Chicago approved a delivery robot pilot in 2022. As of February, 100 robots were operating, split evenly between Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics, and the program ends in May 2027 unless the City Council acts, WBEZ reported.