The problem is specific and a bit strange. Almost every mobile warehouse robot on the market relies on the same basic lidar sensor – a laser that stops the machine dead the moment something crosses a fixed distance. It’s a blunt tool, but insurers and certifiers understand it, so it’s easy to price. Vision-based systems that use cameras and AI to judge distance and behaviour are often far more capable, but their decision-making is probabilistic rather than fixed, so they don’t fit existing safety certification frameworks. Founders at the roundtable said customers were blunt about the result: no laser, no cover. One participant said the regulation, and the insurance market sitting behind it, effectively discourages firms from doing anything at all.
