Second delivery robot crashes into bus shelter, this time in Old Town

For the second time this week, a delivery robot crashes into a bus shelter, this time on the city's Near North Side.

The robot belonging to Coco Robotics was spotted by a CBS News Chicago viewer near North Avenue and Halsted Street in the Old Town neighborhood just before 4 p.m. on Tuesday. Glass was left shattered on the sidewalk.  

CBS News Chicago reporter Jermont Terry arrived at the scene where the delivery robot was gone, but the shattered glass remained.

"This is a hazard to people's safety," said Jillian Grazioso.

The crash also caught the attention of barber Anthony Spaulding from inside the barbershop. 

"I hear the noise, so I look out, and I'm like, 'What's going on?' and I see the robot," he said.

A second robot was also spotted just steps away from where the first robot crashed, that one with a red flag.

"I said this happening all the time, every time you look up, the robot come through, bumping into people," Spaulding said.

No one was injured in the crash, but if someone was sitting in this bus shelter when the robot came crashing through the glass, it would've sent glass flying their way. That's one of the biggest concerns for individuals who live in this area.

"They'd been in some trouble, they'd be in some real trouble, man, they would've had to get paramedic or somebody out here," Grazioso said.

Coco's Vice President and Head of Government Relations at Coco Robotics, Carl Hansen, said in a statement:  

We're aware of an incident today in Chicago involving our robot. This is something we take seriously and is well outside the norm of our operations.

Across more than one million miles of deliveries, this is the first time one of our robots has collided with a structure like this. Our robots operate at a top speed of about 5 miles per hour, and safety is a top priority in how we design and monitor our systems.

Our team responded immediately, retrieved the robot, and are actively clearing the area. We're grateful no one was hurt. We've reached out to the company that owns the shelter and are taking full responsibility for the cost of repair.

We've also launched an internal investigation into how this occurred. While this appears to be a rare, isolated event, we are committed to learning from it and ensuring it does not happen again.

This comes one day after another delivery robot belonging to Serve Robotics also crashed into a bus shelter in West Town. The tech company said it would cover the cost of the already-repaired glass and called the crash landing extremely rare.

"Clearly, definitely a hazard, definitely needs to be fixed," said Chase Harding. "I saw your story on the news yesterday. I put two and two together and said it must've happened again."

"I am wondering why does this keep happening. We've seen it more than once now. Unfortunately, now it's right outside my doorstep," Grazioso said.

The latest crash comes as a petition to end the delivery robot program, which runs through May 2027, has garnered over 3,700 signatures, started by Chicagoan Josh Robertson, citing safety and accessibility issues.

Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) said that before making any determination on whether or not this pilot program moves forward, it will really depend on the safety of the robots. While Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) said the program will not be expanding after a survey showed most residents were against the robots.