Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk of delivery robots to pedestrian and road safety; and what consideration they have given to making provision for local council control over deployment of those robots.

As with any new technology, there are potential risks with pavement delivery devices and safety remains our priority.

There is currently no specific legislation for delivery robots, but the Government has committed to pursuing legislative reform for micromobility vehicles when parliamentary time allows by creating a ‘Low-speed Zero Emission Vehicle’ category, which could be used to regulate pavement robots in future.

If they were to be regulated, we recognise the need for local leaders to have control over pavement robot deployment. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill introduced in July 2025 includes powers to require licensing of micromobility schemes, and this specifically covers pavement robots in its definition of “non-passenger vehicles”.