This is a BS story; the delivery robot company turned over footage to LAPD in a case involving the attempted theft of one of their robots. This is no different from someone with a security camera at their home turning over footage of a burglar.
> Internal emails obtained by 404 show that during an incident in which two suspects attempted to steal a delivery robot made by the company Serve Robotics, the LAPD got a subpoena that allowed them to obtain camera footage from the robot during its time on the streets. (FTA)
They even got a subpoena... for evidence that the victim was ready to give to them!
Security cameras can and do point out into the street, adjacent properties etc. And pretty much every cellphone has a camera; I don't see a big qualitative difference between legs and wheels.
The point is that the company gave the footage to LAPD because it specifically concerned the theft of their property. Might they also give footage if an unrelated crime that happened in the vicinity of their robots? Perhaps, but that's not what happened here.
interesting though. when will these robots be walking ads like instacart pivoted to. side hustle selling data to ai companies. it's all from public spaces so no one to argue copyright. i'm in LA and the robots are pretty freaking annoying. They take up the whole block. race towards you and slam on the breaks. also can we ban the scooter litter?
