South Korea To Allow Delivery Robots on Public Roads in 2023

Robots are being trialled to deliver food and other items in South Korea, which is planning to allow them on roads from 2023.

Woowa Brothers, operator of the country’s biggest food delivery app, started using robots on a trial basis in 2020 while a convenience store chain started in November 2021. The government plans to develop such robots for export in the future. For now, the government is working to give the robots a legal definition by the end of this year so that they can be allowed to operate on roads. They are currently banned on roads as the law treats them as unmanned “vehicles.” As a trial, the government has established a special zone around an apartment complex in Suwon, a city on the outskirts of Seoul, where Woowa has begun a food delivery service using a robot it developed. The robot is called “Dilly Drive” and stands about 70 cm high.