Do delivery robots match their corridor conditions?
For every tracked operator and corridor, the physical conditions are measured from open data but the operator's own capability limit is not published. Serve in San Francisco is the sharpest case: the SF core reaches a 41% grade at the Bradford Street city-street maximum, yet Serve does not publish the grade its robot can climb, so the operational risk is unknowable from the outside. Coco in Miami runs an all-weather claim against 135 measured precipitation days, the most-tested weather claim of any pair. The pattern holds across the board: corridor conditions are knowable and measured, operator envelopes are claimed and mostly unpublished.
Corridor conditions are measured from USGS, NOAA, and OSM open data. Operator limits are the operator's own claim. How we verify.
The full envelope table
Each pair: the operator's claim, the corridor's measured conditions, and the read on how tested the claim is. Grade and precipitation are measured from open data; the operator's own limit is a claim.
| Operator | Corridor | Claim | Measured conditions | Read | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Serve Robotics | LA West Side | all-weather | grade 1.8%, 35 precip d, 0 snow d, 77.5% concrete | LA conditions well within typical robot capability. 1.8% grade is mild. All-weather claim untested (35 precip days). | Claimed |
| Serve Robotics | SF Core | all-weather | grade 5.4%, 68 precip d, 0 snow d, 65.9% concrete | SF's 41% Bradford St is a SEVERE grade risk. Serve doesn't publish grade limits. 68 precip days tests all-weather claim. | Claimed |
| Coco Robotics | Miami | all-weather | grade 1.2%, 135 precip d, 0 snow d, 38% concrete | Miami has 135 precip days (37% of year). All-weather claim is severely tested. 1.2% grade is mild. Low concrete share (38%) means variable surface. | Claimed |
| Coco Robotics | Chicago | all-weather | grade 0.8%, 120 precip d, 15 snow d, 65.3% concrete | Chicago has 15 snow days. All-weather claim must handle snow/ice. 0.8% grade is flat. 65% concrete surface is good. | Claimed |
| Avride | Austin | all-weather | grade 2.2%, 82 precip d, 0 snow d, 36% concrete | Austin 82 precip days. 2.2% grade is mild. Low concrete share (36%) — mixed surface conditions. Avride builds robots in Austin. | Claimed |
| Waymo | Phoenix | all-weather | grade 1%, 30 precip d, 0 snow d, 54.6% concrete | Phoenix 107°F summer high stresses robot battery/cooling. Waymo operates on roads, not sidewalks. 30 precip days = best operating climate. | Claimed |
| Serve Robotics | Atlanta | all-weather | grade 3.5%, 107 precip d, 2 snow d, 39.4% concrete | Atlanta 107 precip days + 2 snow days. 3.5% grade moderate. All-weather claim tested by rain. Low concrete (39.4%). | Claimed |
Corridor conditions from USGS 3DEP (grade), NOAA Climate Normals (precipitation), and OSM (surface). Operator claims from operator disclosures, e.g. Serve Robotics.
Why an unpublished grade limit is an unknowable risk
A robot's climbable grade is a hard physical limit set by its motors and wheels. When an operator runs a corridor whose streets reach 41% but never publishes the grade its robot handles, no outside party can tell whether a given block is inside or outside the envelope. The corridor grade is measured and knowable; the envelope is claimed and hidden. That gap, not the terrain itself, is the operational unknown.
Related verified answers
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Corridor conditions (grade, precipitation, snow, surface) are measured from USGS, NOAA, and OSM open data and carry the Measured basis. Operator capability claims are the operator's own and carry the Claimed basis. These are measured-from-open-data and operator-claimed facts, not reviewed DEPLOY registry records, so none carries the registry verified chip. How we verify
Related answers
How steep are robot delivery corridors?
The measured corridor-scale grade behind the envelope read.
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Where can robots work the most days?
Operating days per year from NOAA normals, the weather side of the envelope.
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Which robot corridors have the most data?
The open-data coverage scorecard across the same corridors.
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