Autonomous Last-mile Delivery

Iain Stewart Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd May 2023 Westminster Hall

[Iain Stewart (Milton Keynes South) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. First, I congratulate my parliamentary neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes North (Ben Everitt), on securing this important debate. I echo the points he made about the value that Starship Technologies robots have for communities in my constituency as well as his.

Autonomous last-mile delivery is an important subject. I am Chair of the Transport Committee, and we are holding an inquiry on not just last-mile delivery robots but self-driving vehicles more widely. The Minister was kind enough to give oral evidence to the Committee last week.

I will focus on three points: first, on the contribution that delivery robots can make to carbon savings; secondly, on social acceptance; and, thirdly, on regulation. Transport is now the single biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in this country. There is no single solution to that, but electrically powered, autonomous delivery vehicles can make an important contribution. I echo the points that my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes North made, and would urge people to look at how last-mile deliveries fit into the wider freight logistics industry. We cannot look at each part of it in splendid isolation. There is enormous potential for linking last-mile delivery robots to the wider supply chain, helping to decarbonise it as a whole.

The point about social acceptance is also critical, and my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes North articulated it well. The robots we have in Milton Keyes are a good indicator of how the public can be won over to autonomous technology. There are two contrasting examples at the moment. One example that has not worked is smart motorways, which still arouse great public fear, and scepticism that the technology can work and make smart motorways safe. The public in Milton Keynes, however, do accept delivery robots. The robots are cautious; they go at walking speed. I do not believe I have had a single bit of correspondence in my constituency from people objecting to them. They are part of the streetscape; I even saw a golden retriever sitting outside a local shop surrounded by them, and it was quite comfortable.

It is interesting that when people come to Milton Keynes who have not seen them, they usually say, “What are these funny things running around?”. For local people, they are just part of the streetscape. We cannot just bring in the new technology. It is important that the robots are given proper publicity, that the mapping is done and that we are cautious. I think Starship Technologies have done that in the right way.

The third point I will make is on regulation. The law is still a very grey area, particularly when it comes to the robots going on the pavements. There is a need to update that. In addition to the points made by my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes North, I would say this: there is a risk that if we do not update our regulations, potential investment in this country will go elsewhere. There is a finite pot of investment money, and we want it in the UK. Another important aspect of regulation is attaining the right balance between a national framework and local flexibility, because what works in Milton Keynes might not work in Trafford, or in a cathedral city with much narrower streets and pavements. As well as a national framework, there has to be the ability to flex the regulations locally.

Robots have enormous potential for our society. My hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes North referred to the Christmas competition launched last year to have a festive design for the robots. Members may not be aware that when the Starship robots arrive, they play a little tune. People can select which one they like—they include “Happy Birthday” and “Baby Shark”. Perhaps the Minister could launch a competition to find the most appropriate delivery tune for the robots to play when they arrive. He has already given me a couple of suggestions privately, but my challenge to him is to come up with the defining standard to celebrate these wonderful machines.