New York: FedEx Receives Cease-and-Desist Order Over Robot Delivery Marketing Stunt
November 27th, 2019Via: Fast Company:
The tech industry’s perennial fantasy of replacing delivery workers with cutesy robots hasn’t quite panned out yet, but that didn’t stop FedEx from coming out with its own autonomous delivery machine and plopping one on a busy Manhattan sidewalk last week. The robot’s New York City debut was just a marketing stunt, but it caught the attention of city officials, who leaped at the chance to tell FedEx to screw off.
FedEx’s autonomous delivery robot was spotted near SoHo late last week as part of a press event to promote American Express’s “Small Business Saturday” campaign. The robot, which is named Roxo, only drew modest attention from passersby and press. (It’s New York City, after all.) But over the course of a couple days, FedEx landed itself a cease-and-desist order from the New York Department of Transportation, TechCrunch reports, as well as a threat from Mayor Bill de Blasio to “send them packing” if the city ever catches the robots in action without a special permit.
