Researchers on health warn that autonomous vehicles delivering fast food 24 hours a day are on the horizon.

Unless governments intervene, the ice cream truck of the future could be driverless and operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, promoting junk food and alcohol, while delivery robots could clog up footpaths.

The new study, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, involved interviews with forty experts from the technology, transportation, government, and health sectors in order to identify common concerns, themes, and trends.

Prof. Simone Pettigrew, Head of Food Policy at the George Institute for Global Health, predicts that driverless and automated vehicles will be the dominant form of road transportation by 2050.

Prof. Pettigrew asserts, "It is a question of when, not if, driverless vehicles will be used to expand on-demand food and grocery delivery services."

"The technology is already being tested in Australia.

"It is convenient, but the impact on population health is cause for concern. Food delivery is commonly associated with unhealthy food, and we believe that food delivery apps are already contributing to obesity rates by increasing access to junk food and decreasing incidental physical activity. According to the experts we consulted, new automated food delivery systems may exacerbate these trends.

"Consider the implications if a robot is advertising and selling soft drinks on your street, or if a drone can deliver french fries to your back door without you having to cross the street. Prof. Pettigrew states that convenience may be detrimental to health.

The findings have prompted the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) to urge governments and policymakers to anticipate future food delivery trends in order to prevent adverse health outcomes.

"Many of these delivery systems can bypass parental controls and go directly to children. This is another example of how far ahead of our regulatory systems technology is. Prof. Adjunct Terry Slevin, the chief executive officer of the PHAA, asserts that the organisation is ill-equipped to protect the community as it continues to face an obesity epidemic that has faded from the news.

"We should not wait for this to become a problem before implementing preventative measures; otherwise, we will be forced to retrofit regulation to something that already exists." He added.

While acknowledging the issue is complex and requires a sophisticated response, the study does include some of the policy measures experts think Governments could consider, including: 

-        Outright bans – for instance banning delivery bots on footpaths to keep other users safe

-        Advertising restrictions on the surface of vehicles 

-        Location restrictions – for instance banning the use of these sorts of technologies offering junk food near schools

-        Higher licence fees for activities that do more harm – for instance automated vehicles promoting junk food

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