Last October, a New Jersey cyclist was seriously injured after colliding with an Uber Eats delivery robot on a sidewalk in Jersey City.

The cyclist is now planning to sue, arguing that “sidewalks are not tech playgrounds.” He’s right.

In places like Jersey City and Miami, app companies are rolling out autonomous delivery technology without public input and little accountability. Delivery robot collisions have also been reported in Chicago and Philadelphia in the last few months. 

Robots are occupying the same sidewalks, bike lanes, and intersections that workers, pedestrians, seniors and families rely on to get around safely every day, and it’s these community members facing the consequences when tech experiments go wrong.

As the Jersey City cyclist put it: “They’re beta testing in real time.”

Residents in cities all over the country have sounded the alarm about autonomous vehicles blocking intersections and emergency vehicles, malfunctioning in dangerous weather conditions, and operating unpredictably in busy areas. Delivery robots are raising many of the same concerns: who has input on the rollout of this technology? And who is held accountable when there are problems?

As app workers, we know better than anyone how important it is to hold tech companies accountable when they put profits before the people who keep our cities moving. We’re going to keep organizing against the unchecked expansion of driverless vehicles and autonomous delivery technology.

Our communities aren’t testing grounds, and people’s safety and livelihoods have to come first. We deserve a voice in the future being built around us!