Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the level of risk of pavement delivery robots being (a) hijacked, (b) used to carry unlawful items or (c) used to obstruct emergency responders at incident scenes or protests; and what cyber security standards operators will be required to meet.

The Department is considering security and misuse risks as part of policy development for the pavement robot trials. Operators will be required to ensure that only authorised users can access a robot’s cargo compartment, and local authorities and operators will need plans in place to ensure robots do not hinder emergency responders. Pavement robots will be required to give way to other road users and must not obstruct pedestrians.

The Government is also considering requirements for operators to show that their systems and pavement robots are secure and protected against cyber threats. This will draw on established approaches already used for connected and automated vehicle technologies.