That's an excellent question that gets to the heart of modern urban planning. The short answer is: yes, but with important conditions. Not every trash can you see on a city sidewalk is compatible with an automated garbage truck.
For a seamless process, specific requirements must be met. The trash cans must be standardized, wheeled containers with a uniform design. These are often provided by the municipal waste management authority itself. The most common type in automated systems is the cart-style bin with a specially designed bar or lip on the front or top. This bar is the crucial interface; it's what the robotic arm on the side of the automated truck grips, lifts, and uses to empty the contents into the truck's hopper.
If a trash can lacks this standardized design—for instance, a random decorative bin, a stationary public litter basket, or a container from a different municipality—the automated truck's arm cannot interact with it. The system relies on this perfect harmony between the truck's mechanical arm and the bin's specific features. The driver operates the arm from the cab, guiding it to grab, lift, and empty the bin without ever leaving the vehicle.
The benefits of this automated system are significant. It's faster, increases worker safety by reducing physical strain and exposure to waste, and can be more cost-effective over time. So, while the future of urban waste collection is increasingly automated, its success depends entirely on cities deploying the right kind of trash cans to work in concert with these advanced trucks.