Man uses $4,999 autonomous snow blower to clear his driveway during winter storm: ‘I’m inside sipping a coffee’

• Americans pushed snow blowers and dug through mounds of snow with shovels after this past weekend’s winter storm.
• An EV battery reviewer was able to watch his autonomous snow blower clear his driveway from the warmth of his home.
• The 230-pound Yarbo Snow Blower, which retails for $4,999, can chuck snow over 40 feet and charges in an hour and a half.

Forget robotaxis — a man and his robo-snow blower were the envy of X during the weekend’s winter storm.

More than 250 million Americans are thawing out after a massive winter storm swept the country with freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall.

Tom Moloughney, however, stayed inside. He watched a nearly 230-pound robot clear his long New Jersey driveway, documenting the process in a video posted to his X account.

Moloughney is a certified techie, host of the State of Charge YouTube channel and a senior editor at InsideEVs. He’s been reviewing a $4,999 autonomous snow blower from robotics company Yarbo.

The storm dumped about six inches of snow in Moloughney’s town over 24 hours, according to the National Weather Service. It was the perfect opportunity to give the bot a whirl.

“This is going to be a great test to see if this robot can handle a 6,000 sq.ft. driveway during a major winter storm,” Moloughney wrote on X. “I’m inside sipping a coffee while it’s doing its job and so far so good!”

Videos Moloughney posted during the storm showed the Wi-Fi-connected machine clearing snow from his long driveway, a walkway, and the curved area in front of his two-car garage. When its battery ran low, the robot returned on its own to a charging pad, recharging for about an hour and a half before heading back out into the freezing temperatures.

According to Yarbo’s website, the autonomous snowblower can clear up to 12 inches of snow, throw it as far as 40 feet, and operate in temperatures as low as minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit.

“It will continue to do that until the driveway is completely done twice,” Moloughney updated viewers on X during the storm. “I’ll then send it out again and continue to do so until the snow stops.”

Still, the robotic helper hasn’t been flawless, according to Moloughney. The reviewer said the machine required extensive digital setup before the storm and struggled to establish GPS connectivity in parts of his driveway. During a previous storm, he said hail fell before the snow, leaving a sheet of ice the robot couldn’t remove. And, during a previous storm, hail fell before the snow, leaving a sheet of ice covering his driveway before the bot cleared the snow.

Moloughney and Yarbo did not respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment.

Despite the hiccups, Moloughney said the robot worked through the night as the final flakes fell, calling its performance “kicking ass.”

You can watch the reviewer’s unboxing of the robo-snow blower in the video below.