Forget driverless cars: it’s time for robotic Russian ice cream trucks
11 September 2018
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Katie Marie Davies
Autonomous cars might already be hitting the streets of San Francisco, but one Russian tech firm is taking things one step further, with an driverless ice cream truck ready to track down hungry pedestrians.
The Ryazan-based Avrora Robotics unveiled its driverless “VendBot” with ice cream firm Baskin Robbins at the Hydroaviasalon science festival in Moscow.
The unmanned bot is programmed to move along a pre-planned route, independently detecting obstacles, maneuvering and stopping for would-be customers to use its touch-screen vending system. But it might be a while before the truck can take on the might of the Russian road system, as it’s currently designed to navigate parks and shopping centres.
