Albany Democrat-Herald 10-23-17

In October of 2017 Nova Dynamics reached an agreement with the city of Philomath which allowed Dax to operate within Philomath in the same ways that pedestrians do, using sidewalks, shoulders, and bicycle paths.

Philomath supported the development of Dax from the first. The process for reaching this agreement, which enabled Nova Dynamics to do testing on the sidewalks of Philomath, included an interview with the Philomath police committee and ended in a unanimous vote from the city council. It was a huge step in the story of Dax, allowing us to test out our delivery robot in real-world applications.

Another factor that made this decision important was that it showed that Nova had at least in part lived up to its goal of owning the experience, not just the process. We wanted Dax to be easily adaptable to human life, not something that came across as alien, inconvenient, and unrelatable. Our reception in Philomath was an indicator that we were on the path we wanted to be on.

Read the story below (covered by Brad Fuqua for the Albany Democrat-herald) for more: