The incident took place at around 6 p.m. at a pedestrian crossing at the intersection of Luise and Tehnika streets in the city center, municipal transport company Tallinn Transport (TLT) said.

The Bolt delivery robot approached from Tehnika tänav and entered the crossing on a red light. This was confirmed by both the bus driver and other road users, TLT said.

The bus driver tried to prevent an accident and braked sharply, which caused several passengers standing on the bus to fall. Up to nine were injured, TLT said.

Video footage (see above) from the bus shows the vehicle and the robot colliding, and the robot being pushed along the road.

The delivery robot then left the scene.

"If a participant in a traffic accident leaves the scene without fulfilling the obligations prescribed by law, this may constitute an offense," the TLT spokesperson said.

TLT board member Andrei Novikov told ERR's Russian service the circumstances of the incident must be established by the police.

"The bus collided with a delivery robot. As a result, passengers fell over. The robot fled, if you can put it that way. That means it drove away after the collision. The incident is currently being investigated. The robot is at fault in any case. The police will probably investigate why this happened," he said on Tuesday.

The last reported collision between a bus and delivery robot was in April 2020 in Tallinn's Mustamäe region. A delivery robot drove into the bus's wheel but no one was injured.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!