Por Julián Kaper
En esta noticia
A delivery robot was involved in a striking traffic accident in Tallinn, Estonia, after running a red light and forcing a bus to brake suddenly. The maneuver left nine passengers injured and sparked an investigation to determine who was responsible for the incident.
The device, which belongs to Bolt, entered a crosswalk while the light was against it. While the city transport company said the robot left before police arrived, Starship Technologies, which developed it, blamed a technical problem and gave a different account of what happened after the collision.
How the crash that left nine passengers injured happened
A camera mounted on the bus recorded the moment when both vehicles collided and the device was pushed across the roadway. After the impact, the robot left the scene before police arrived.
A company spokesman said that behavior could carry legal consequences, while Andrei Novikov, a member of its management team, said the circumstances should be investigated by the authorities.
Starship Technologies, the company behind the devices, blamed the robot’s behavior on a failure to interpret the signals. Pepe Aaviksoo, the company’s chief operating officer, said darkness and a lit billboard behind the traffic lights may have confused the system. He also said the pedestrian and vehicle signals lined up from the device’s point of view, which would have made them harder to identify.
What the company said about the robot’s apparent getaway
Aaviksoo added that the unit’s light sensor did not work properly and that the company will work to fix the problem. He also said the absence of vehicles approaching the robot may have influenced its decision to cross. The executive said: “There are many lessons to learn, but exceptional situations do happen.”
The Starship executive also rejected the idea that the device fled immediately after the crash. According to his explanation, it remained at the scene for about 10 minutes and then contacted the support team so it could be moved off the roadway.