In reality the actual thing stopping this is social convention.
Police barely want to do stuff if actually valuable stuff is stolen, and can barely catch a thief if the thief left his passport, current address and his phone number behind.
Most destitute people aren’t thieves, don’t want to steal and are cowed by the chance someone will retaliate violently on behalf of the corporation.
Automated vehicles are full of cameras and other sensors, that would be something to keep in mind in this hypothetical. Also they are corporate property, and pigs will suddenly become very enthusiastic about $20 worth of stolen food and a damaged drone when they fear this could feed a homeless person.
Hypothetically of course
what’s stopping me from just destroying the cart and taking the food out? How would they know/track me down?
Palantir
In reality the actual thing stopping this is social convention. Police barely want to do stuff if actually valuable stuff is stolen, and can barely catch a thief if the thief left his passport, current address and his phone number behind.
Most destitute people aren’t thieves, don’t want to steal and are cowed by the chance someone will retaliate violently on behalf of the corporation.
Automated vehicles are full of cameras and other sensors, that would be something to keep in mind in this hypothetical. Also they are corporate property, and pigs will suddenly become very enthusiastic about $20 worth of stolen food and a damaged drone when they fear this could feed a homeless person.
In cyberpunk, vending machines have lethal security features and facial recognition preventing exactly this. That’s halfway real already.
Presumably they have cameras on board.
face masks