Small wheels, big change: how delivery robots are transforming European streets

The presence of autonomous delivery robots on the streets of several European cities is becoming an increasingly common sight: something that until recently seemed like science fiction is now part of everyday life.

Companies like Starship Technologies, founded by one of the creators of Skype, have turned the idea of “autonomous last-mile delivery” into an operational service that has already made more than ten million deliveries in cities such as Milton Keynes in the United Kingdom or Tallinn in Estonia, where small self-powered EVs travel along sidewalks carrying supermarket orders, food or medicine, moving at pedestrian speed, avoiding obstacles, and communicating with customers via mobile notifications.

Paradoxically, Europe, with its dense urban layout, historic centers and narrow streets, is the ideal terrain for this new form of logistics. In many cities across the continent, a single delivery van can block a street for several minutes, disrupting traffic and causing disproportionate inconvenience for a delivery that could be made much more smoothly. Robots, on the other hand, integrate seamlessly: they move with the flow of pedestrians, emit no noise or fumes, and allow city centers to remain vibrant without detracting from the experience of those who live there. In places…