Delivery robot goes viral after crashing into West Town bus shelter, shattering glass onto sidewalk
A food delivery robot in Chicago is going viral, but not for fast service, but for a crash landing.
The pint-sized courier smashed straight through the glass of a West Town CTA bus shelter. While it led to plenty of laughs, it also raised some serious questions about the future of the pilot program.
"I actually felt bad for the guy a little bit," said Bayard Elfvin, CEO and founder of Centre Construction Group.
The video shows the small, wheeled robot designed to bring takeout to your door brought a mess instead.
"I mean, I never thought a little robot running into a bus stop would cause such a buzz," Elfvin said.
The guilty driver, Nasir, smashed through the glass at the CTA bus shelter at Grand and Racine just outside of the Centre Construction Group. Elfvin said he was surprised how easily the glass at the shelter broke.
"I was surprised, the thing could hit it that hard, and it went right through it," he said.
Serve Robotics said in a statement that while they figure out how this happened, they will cover the cost of the already-repaired glass, calling the crash landing extremely rare.
Our robot made impact with the glass. Our local team proceeded to clean up the area as soon as we learned about the incident and immediately started an investigation into how this happened. Incidents like this are extremely rare, with our robots completing hundreds of thousands of deliveries since 2025 without a single serious incident. We are in touch with the relevant parties and will cover the cost of the repair.
CBS News Chicago cameras caught a robot from a different company successfully navigating the same stretch of busy Grand Avenue.
Although nobody was injured at the bus stop, 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.
"We are in contact with the company. We are stressing the importance of public safety and consistent monitoring of these robots to prevent harm to people, infrastructure, and property. We have been informed that the company is in talks with the bus shelter provider, and both parties will look to have it repaired as soon as possible. We are glad that no one was hurt. We will continue to listen to feedback from 27th Ward residents and local businesses as we monitor these robotic companies during this pilot period. We will consider their performance in complying with safety protocols before making a determination on their presence in the ward following the pilot," Burnett said.
Meanwhile, there is a grassroots effort to put the brakes on these delivery robots. Josh Robertson started a petition to end robot deliveries.
"This pilot program has been more disruptive to everyday Chicagoans than a pilot should be," he said.
The petition, according to Robertson, has over 3,700 signatures from people who see red flags in the pilot program that rolls on through May 2027.
"This incident created quite the spectacle, but it's one more in a long line of hundreds of incidents that we've received through the petition," he said. "The robots continue to cause safety and accessibility issues for Chicagoans."
Burnett has not yet taken a position on the delivery robots. However, Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) said the program will not be expanding after a survey showed most residents opposed it.
