Overview
- A Coco Robotics unit shattered glass at an Old Town CTA shelter on Tuesday near North and Larrabee, with the company saying no one was hurt, the robot was retrieved, repairs will be covered, and an internal investigation is underway.
- The Old Town crash came one day after a Serve Robotics robot broke a West Town shelter near Grand and Racine, where viral video showed the aftermath and the company said it would pay for repairs and review what went wrong.
- Mayor Brandon Johnson said the pilot is meant to test what works, and Ald. Walter Burnett emphasized that safety performance and monitoring will guide whether the robots remain in his 27th Ward after the trial period.
- Public pushback is growing, with about 3,700 people signing a petition that cites collisions, sidewalk blockages, and accessibility concerns, and Ald. Daniel La Spata halted any expansion in the 1st Ward after surveying residents.
- The robots operate under a city pilot through May 2027, with Coco’s devices watched by human teleoperators and Serve’s largely autonomous units taking human input as needed, and coverage ranged from clips showing only the aftermath to a video that captured the impact in West Town.