FedExBot

Roxo, FedEx’s autonomous same-day delivery bot, hit the streets of NYC this week, to a brutally cold reception from New York City officials.

Though the company told TechCrunch that the bots were there for a preview party for its Small Business Saturday event and are not testing in New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio and transportation officials delivered a sharp response to FedEx via Twitter: Get these robots off the street.

Mayor Eric Adams on Twitter: “First of all, @FedEx, never get a robot to do a New Yorker’s job. We have the finest workers in the world.Second of all, we didn’t grant permission for these to clog up our streets. If we see ANY of these bots we’ll send them packing. https://t.co/XxJIrIW9vr / Twitter”

First of all, @FedEx, never get a robot to do a New Yorker’s job. We have the finest workers in the world.Second of all, we didn’t grant permission for these to clog up our streets. If we see ANY of these bots we’ll send them packing. https://t.co/XxJIrIW9vr

According to CNN, lawyers for the New York City Department of Transportation delivered a cease-and-desist letter to FedEx on Monday, warning that the robots were violating various traffic provisions.
“You are hereby directed to immediately cease and desist operating your SameDay Bots on the streets and sidewalks in the City of New York,” reads the letter, signed by DOT Deputy General Counsel Susan Pondish. “Failure to do so may result in the seizure of property, notices of violation and/or the commencement of legal actions.
Multiple properties report that the letter outlines, “Motor vehicles are not permitted to operate on New York City sidewalks, and no motor vehicles may be operated without having at least one hand on the steering mechanism any time the vehicle is moving.”
In the meantime, across social media, @whatisny posted a video one of FedEx’s “SameDay Bot” fleet crossing Crosby Street near Houston Street.

WhatIsNewYork on Twitter: “Wall-E out here flexing all over FedEx delivery drivers #whatisnewyork pic.twitter.com/TOevthTUJQ / Twitter”

Wall-E out here flexing all over FedEx delivery drivers #whatisnewyork pic.twitter.com/TOevthTUJQ

And Reddit user HeidiWearsGlasses shared a video of a spinning FedEx bot in SoHo.

Saw a FedEx robot in soho just now.

88 votes, 52 comments. 594k members in the nyc community. r/nyc, the subreddit about New York City

In case you missed it, here’s the official video release from FedEx introducing the SameDay Bot.

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Like what you read? Check out more from my WorkingNation blog, The Looming Robot.

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Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.