County to consider allowing UNLV’s food-delivery robots to roam beyond campus

Take a walk on UNLV’s campus and you might see a knee-high white box on wheels branded with an orange Grubhub logo.

The robots speed among students and faculty making their way across campus on a food run to a hungry recipient.

These robots from Starship Technologies have made UNLV home for the past two years, but their food deliveries are limited to the university’s boundaries.

That could change today when the Clark County Commission votes on an ordinance that would allow personal delivery devices to leave campus to bring food deliveries to students in nearby apartment complexes from on-campus restaurants. The commission must first establish an operating area for the devices, including giving them access to sidewalks and other pedestrian areas.

The 2023 Nevada Legislature, in passing Senate Bill 422, gave local governments the power to regulate the time, place and manner of operation of such personal delivery devices and to establish standards for their safe operation.

The county’s proposed ordinance would restrict the number of personal delivery devices operated by a single company to 50 at each Nevada System of Higher Education institution, with a maximum speed of 5 miles per hour.

Under the proposed ordinance, the devices would be allowed to carry food and nonalcoholic beverages to students and staff, which the county believes will increase revenue of the on-campus restaurants and marketplaces.

It would also save students and staff from walking across Maryland Parkway during hot days, or at night when safety is a concern.

“We appreciate the county for working with us,” said Constance Brooks, vice president for government and community relations at UNLV. “There are over 60 colleges and universities in the country that enjoy this service, including our sister institution (UNR).”

Clark County reasons that “it is necessary to license personal delivery device operators and to impose restrictions on the operation of personal delivery device businesses as is necessary to provide for the health, safety and welfare of the public,” according to the proposed ordinance.

Should the ordinance pass, personal delivery device operators would be required to apply for and obtain a Clark County business license before they are allowed to pilot their robots. The ordinance is unclear on the cost of the license. Operators also would have to pay a semiannual fee to the county based on the food service’s gross revenue.

The application must include a map of the service area where the delivery device will operate; a community outreach plan with strategies on how to engage with older adults and disabled people; and a complaint response plan with the applicant’s 24-hour complaint hotline as well as their procedure for “promptly addressing any complaints received.”

The complaint plan is required to outline how the delivery device operator will respond within 30 minutes to the removal of a personal delivery device that has malfunctioned or become inoperable while in the public right-of-way, the ordinance said.

General liability insurance of no less than $500,000 for damages will also be required as a condition of licensing and prior to the operator being allowed to offer the service.

Violators may be issued a civil penalty of no more than $1,000 for breaking these rules, with each violation recorded as a separate fine that can be assessed cumulatively in the same civil penalty notice.

A new violation is added for each day the original violation continues, the proposed ordinance notes.

Though UNLV seemed optimistic about the ordinance’s approval, some commissioners still seem ready to pump the brakes on allowing these personal delivery robots on Clark County sidewalks.

Commissioner Michael Naft during the Aug. 20 commission

meeting made it clear to staff and fellow commissioners that he was only in support of this ordinance if it could prevent the delivery robots from taking up precious sidewalk space, especially from people with mobility issues.

“The only reason I’ve supported this item is because I’ve been given assurances that we can protect public access to the sidewalks, including the 48 inches for (the Americans with Disabilities Act), so as we continue in this process, at least speaking for myself, that would certainly impact my view on this topic,” Naft said.

Starship Technologies and food delivery application Grubhub teamed up in 2022 to bring delivery robots to UNLV’s campus. The robots are used exclusively for students to place orders from UNLV Dining or P.O.D. Market — known as the Provisions on Demand — locations around the campus off South Maryland Parkway using the Grubhub application and their campus dining credits.

Within about 15 minutes, the robot can roll up to a student’s door or classroom.

Along with UNLV, Starship Technologies operates delivery robots at over 50 college campuses nationwide and some globally, the company said on its website. Starship Technologies touts that its delivery robots have completed over 5 million autonomous deliveries — and in so doing become the first and only robot delivery company to reach that milestone.

While UNLV didn’t make it clear whether it would change its policy to include deliveries from one of the many restaurants surrounding UNLV, officials in an email to the Sun said

the ordinance would allow the university to expand deliveries to students who live in complexes near campus such as TheYou, Echo 1055 and U-District.

UNLV officials said they believed the robots offered more than just a convenience factor — they can also provide necessary access to food options for students with mobility challenges and are an easy, safer option for dining late at night.

“We look forward to those robots,” Commissioner Tick Segerblom said Tuesday, joking that he “expect(s) to see robots” in the county chambers today.