A train, a pickup truck and "Destroy me plz": delivery robots' rough commute
The New York Times strings together bad days for sidewalk couriers from Philadelphia to Miami, and the comments keep returning to the train.
The New York Times
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 268,926 views a day, 20 times a normal first day on this channel (13,529).
Food Delivery Robots Run Into Trouble
A pickup truck at a Philadelphia crosswalk opens "Food Delivery Robots Run Into Trouble," and a bystander's "Oh my God, he hit him" sets the tone for the next half-minute.
The Short is a quick tour of bad days for the little couriers. In Los Angeles, a passerby who set one back on its wheels explains, "I had to flip him over 'cause someone put him on the ground." In Philadelphia, a man sits on top of a robot with "Destroy me plz" scrawled on its side. Not every mishap is human-made. One robot stands beside shattered glass at a Chicago bus shelter, and in Miami another crosses the tracks just as a Brightline train arrives. The clip ends on a calmer note, with a long column of pink Coco robots rolling down a Chicago sidewalk.
The Times reads the kicking and tipping as a sign that the machines have touched a nerve for Americans worried about A.I. It also notes that about 5,000 robot couriers are already delivering nationwide, a number expected to rise.
The video passed 200,000 views in 14 hours, far beyond what a Times Short usually gathers in a full day, and comments arrived about five times faster than usual. Much of the talk is about the train: viewers draft apologetic delivery notices and picture a burrito suddenly speeding toward Orlando. Others turn serious, raising delivery jobs, crowded sidewalks and whether wheelchair users can still get past.
Two other Times Shorts also ran well ahead of the usual pace: Post-Tropical Storm Rachel flooding parts of the Las Vegas Strip, and Saudi state media's footage of the deadly attack on Riyadh's airport. The robots still drew roughly three times either of them.
Published on Trari
Where next?
What viewers say
“Hey babe… our burritos are all of a sudden traveling over 75mph to Orlando…”
@mikestatelman2818See it on YouTube"Sorry your food wasn't delivered. Your delivery bot caught a train."
@himonightbreezeSee it on YouTubeThe funniest thing in Seattle is at 2 am when they all hook up and train over to the recharging station as a group of hundreds of them
@TheadventuringphilosopherSee it on YouTube
4 more comments
train hitting delivery bot ASMR
@JonJ_el9gigglesSee it on YouTubeThe train one is so satisfying
@Wasted_HydraSee it on YouTubeMotorized vehicles should not be permitted on sidewalks. It makes it inconvenient for pedestrians and impassible for wheelchair users.
@catness1809See it on YouTubePlus the delivery charges are astronomical even by food delivery standards
@longbeingSee it on YouTube
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- Channel
- The New York Times
- Subscribers
- 5,300,000 ▲ 10,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 6,694,402
- Channel views, pace per day
- 979,655 (on a normal day: 777,890)
- Video published
- October 12, 2026
- Video views so far
- 206,303 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 268,926
The numbers
A news channel that usually draws modest first days for its Shorts found a much bigger audience for this one.
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