TO: HONORABLE MAYOR
AND CITY COUNCIL
FROM: John Ristow
Jim Shannon
SUBJECT: Authorizing Personal
Delivery Devices in City
Right-of-Way
DATE: September 14, 2026
Approved
Date:
9/25/2026
COUNCIL DISTRICT: Citywide
RECOMMENDATION
(a) Approve an ordinance adding Chapter 11.91 to Title 11 of the San José Municipal Code relating to the regulation of Personal Delivery Devices. (b) Adopt a resolution amending the 2026-2027 Schedule of Fees and Charges (Resolution No. 72737, as amended) to establish a Sidewalk Personal Delivery Device Annual Permit and Program Monitoring Operating Fee of $200 per device and a pilot Roadway Personal Delivery Device Permit and Program Monitoring Operating Fee of $250 per device.
(c) Adopt a resolution amending the Administrative Citation Schedule of Fines to add fines for violations of Chapter 11.91 of Title 11 of the San José Municipal Code related to prohibited conduct for Personal Delivery Device operators, and repealing Resolution No. RES2025-403.
SUMMARY AND OUTCOME
Approval of the recommendations will allow the City to permit Personal Delivery Devices (PDDs) in the City’s rights-of-way. Two delivery device operators are currently providing services in the city. A third operator has expressed interest in doing so if the City Council approves the proposed ordinance. Currently, there are no rules prohibiting PDDs from operating in the city or governing how they operate. Staff’s recommendations create the legal basis for the City to manage these services to ensure public health, safety, and welfare by maintaining clear and safe sidewalks for pedestrians, particularly those with disabilities, as well as safe roadways, while fostering zero-emission delivery innovation.
COUNCIL AGENDA: 10/6/26
FILE: 26-1033
ITEM: 5.1
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
September 14, 2026
Subject: Authorizing Personal Delivery Devices in City Right-Of-Way
BACKGROUND
Companies and public agencies have been testing the use of small, electric-powered robots to deliver food, groceries, and other small parcels in the U.S. for nearly 10 years.
Proponents have touted the potential of PDDs or delivery robots, as they have come to be known, to reduce costs, emissions, traffic congestion, and parking conflicts. 1 Starship Technologies launched its first commercial pilot in Redwood City in 2017.
Other companies followed suit: Marble, San Francisco (2017); Serve, Los Angeles (2019); Kiwibot, UC Berkeley (2017).
San José initiated a pilot with Kiwibot (now Robot.com) in March 2020, the same month the COVID shelter-in-place order was imposed. Staff saw the pilot as a means to advance the City’s climate and mode-shift goals as well as bridge barriers created by the lockdown. The first phase tested the robot’s ability to navigate the City’s built environment to deliver meals to downtown residents. The second phase explored other potential use cases, such as delivering farm boxes from Veggielution’s farm to low- income residents in East San José and delivering small parcels from the Westfield Valley Fair Mall to nearby residents. The pilots enabled the City to better understand the challenges and benefits of these services as well as the state of the technology, which was then still nascent.
In the intervening six years, the PDD market has evolved from pilots to substantial commercial operations. More than 30 states and 40 cities in the U.S. have permitted PDD services. California currently has no statewide requirements governing PDD operations. As a result, multiple California municipalities have enacted ordinances governing PDD operations within their jurisdiction. In early 2026, several PDD operators informed the City they were interested in expanding to San José. In keeping with the City’s commitment to fostering innovation, the City did not prohibit the operators from initiating service in San José. Instead, as it did when shared scooters arrived in 2018, staff is using the devices’ presence as an opportunity to learn about the maturity of the technology, how operators are managing their services, and the community’s reaction to PDDs. These insights have informed the staff’s development of a City regulatory framework for PDDs.
Three PDD companies have expressed interest in being formally permitted to operate in San José. The two companies currently operating in the city are sidewalk delivery robots: Coco Robotics, whose two-foot-tall robot is typically pink, and Serve Robotics, whose nearly three-and-a-half-foot-tall device is white (Attachment - PDD Photos). The top speed of both companies’ devices is approximately 10 miles per hour (13 miles per
1 https://www.berkspa.gov/getmedia/a1ca0a5a-6978-45c8-b88f-934bcca54a2a/EPFA-Freight-Plan-Final- December-2024.pdf
https://cmr.berkeley.edu/2022/04/self-driving-robots-a-revolution-in-the-local-delivery/ https://www.dot.state.mn.us/automated/docs/personal-delivery-device-white-paper.pdf
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
September 14, 2026
Subject: Authorizing Personal Delivery Devices in City Right-Of-Way
hour for Coco and 11 for Serve). However, the City intends to restrict their speed to 5 miles per hour. Their low speed will limit their service areas to one to two miles. Both operators contract with DoorDash to deliver food. The third operator is DoorDash itself, which has developed its own delivery robot. It is larger than the sidewalk PDDs (nearly five feet tall) and it will operate primarily in bikeways and on roadways. Its top speed is 20 miles per hour
2, which allows it to serve a larger area: three to five miles.
The robots deliver their cargo in secured storage containers, which are accessed by the recipient through an app or delivery code. The robots operate autonomously within geo- fenced areas via previously mapped routes. If the robot is vandalized, gets confused, or encounters an obstacle it cannot circumvent, a human intervenes remotely (assuming operating control of the robot) or in person.
Local and state government responses to this technology have varied widely. More than 30 states have adopted legislation authorizing PDDs. Some cities, such as Jackson, Wyoming, and Knoxville, Tennessee, have prohibited PDDs. Others, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., have robust sidewalk PDD programs but ban roadway PDDs.
Thus far, only a handful of cities have authorized roadway PDDs. Those include the cities of Fremont, San Ramon, and Dublin, in California, and the Phoenix metropolitan area in Arizona. As of August 2026, the only commercial deployments were those in the Phoenix metro area; the others were pilots.
San José residents and advocacy organizations have expressed both support for and objections to PDDs sharing city sidewalks and roads. Some said they see benefit in PDDs replacing short-distance single-occupancy vehicle trips, which will reduce emissions and potentially increase public safety. Others expressed concern that sidewalk robots will pose a hazard to pedestrians, particularly those who use wheelchairs or guide dogs, or have limited or no hearing or vision. Others expressed concern that roadway robots will impede cyclists and cause crashes. Community members were also concerned that the City or its operators would not act swiftly enough to address regulatory violations, such as PDDs blocking curb cuts, or issue fines to deter bad behavior.
ANALYSIS
PDDs have the potential to advance the City’s environmental and transportation goals by reducing solo-occupancy vehicle trips and greenhouse gas emissions. However, they can also cause problems. PDDs can impede the movement of and create hazards for pedestrians using the city’s sidewalks and cyclists using its roadways. They can
2 https://about.doordash.com/en-us/news/doordash-unveils-dot
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
September 14, 2026
Subject: Authorizing Personal Delivery Devices in City Right-Of-Way
dissuade people from biking, a transportation mode the City is actively promoting. They can also eliminate jobs currently performed by humans.
The City has sought to address potential negative impacts on pedestrians and bicyclists through its proposed ordinance and, more specifically, its administrative guidelines. The impact of PDDs on jobs is a legitimate concern and part of a larger debate about where and to what degree automation will eliminate or transform many occupations. Thus far, there is scant independent, scientific research on the risks posed by PDDs. However, some studies
3 4 5 suggest that in the near term, “last mile” deliveries are likely to include both humans and robots, given the constraints of automation, the limited range of PDDs, unpredictability of making deliveries in urban areas, and consumer preferences.
The long-term prognosis is less clear.
The City’s objective is to create a regulatory framework that supports innovation, but protects other sidewalk and bikeway users, particularly those most vulnerable. The ordinance and proposed administrative regulations are drawn from the City’s experience with shared scooters and sidewalk devices, insights gleaned from other cities, and input from residents, bicycle and disability advocates, and PDD operators.
The City is proposing a one-year permit for PDD sidewalk operators and a one-year pilot permit for roadway operators. The latter recognizes that commercial roadway delivery robot services are novel. This deployment will also be DoorDash’s largest in a city to date. The City anticipates the pilot will require more oversight, so it is proposing a higher per-device fee for the roadway devices. Staff will also monitor the sidewalk device operators and maintain contact with disability advocates to ensure that the City’s regulations are working as intended.
Via the proposed ordinance change, City Council will authorize the Transportation Director to approve and amend the regulations, as it did with the City’s Shared Micromobility administrative regulations. This will allow the City to promptly modify the regulations when changes are needed, particularly in the first few years of the program.
The regulations seek to minimize hazards, but they cannot eliminate them. Vehicle automation has improved significantly over the last five years, but automated vehicles, including PDDs, sometimes get confused and act in ways that are unexpected. The Transportation Director will have the authority to suspend or cancel permits, as well as terminate the program should its risks outweigh its benefits.
3 Will AI Replace Delivery Drivers? Displace Index, https://displaceindex.com/occupations/delivery-driver/ 4 Study: ‘Pedestrian Delivery Robots’ Have a Lot of the Same Challenges As … Pedestrians, September 2022. https://usa.streetsblog.org/2022/09/26/study-pedestrian-delivery-robots-have-a-lot-of-the-same- challenges-as-pedestrians
5 Human or Robot? Evidence from Last-Mile Delivery Service, Sept 2025, https://arxiv.org/html/2509.11562v1
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
September 14, 2026
Subject: Authorizing Personal Delivery Devices in City Right-Of-Way
After a nine-month evaluation period, staff will make a recommendation to City Council on the future of roadway-using PDDs. This can include normalizing the permit, extending the pilot period, or disallowing this type of device on our roadways. Around the same time, the Transportation Director will determine whether to extend the PDD sidewalk permit for another year.
City Council authorization of the proposed ordinance, permit schedule, and fines, as well as granting the Transportation Director authority to approve and amend the City’s PDD administrative regulations, will allow the City to require operators to conform to the City’s regulations to continue operating in San José.
Some of the regulations in the proposed administrative regulations are listed below.
All Personal Delivery Devices
General
• One-year permits. The City also reserves the right to limit the number of operators, number of devices, and service area;
• Limits PDDs to five miles per hour on sidewalks, pedestrian pathways, and crosswalks;
• Limits PDDs waiting for a delivery to the “furnishing” zone of the sidewalk, where meters and trees are located, outside of the pedestrian path; • Requires devices shorter than 46 inches to deploy tall, high-visibility flags; • PDDs must employ lights that are on all the time and visible from every direction; and
• Every PDD must display a unique identifier number and contact information.
Operation
• PDDs must obey all traffic laws and pedestrian signals; • PDDs must not obstruct sidewalks, crosswalks, ramps, etc.; • Operators must remove robots that violate City regulations within 30 minutes or be subject to a fine; and
• PDDs must emit a sound when moving to alert pedestrians to their approach.
Engagement
• Operators must demonstrate they have engaged area residents (including disability advocacy organizations and residents with disabilities), businesses, and relevant City Council district offices.
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
September 14, 2026
Subject: Authorizing Personal Delivery Devices in City Right-Of-Way
Roadway Delivery Devices
Below are additional regulations for PDDs operating in the City’s roadways. These include, but are not limited to:
General
• One-year pilot permits for PDDs using the City’s roadways; • Roadway PDDs must have brake, hazard, and all-the-time lights (visible in all directions); and
• Roadway PDDs must be able to issue auditory and visual warnings to nearby pedestrians or cyclists when needed.
Operation
• Roadway PDDs must match the speed of slower cyclists ahead of them; • Roadway PDDs must yield to cyclists behind them if the PDD cannot safely match that cyclist’s pace;
• Roadway PDDs must operate at a maximum of five miles per hour at protected intersections;
• Roadway PDDs must not park in bikeways. Disabled devices must be removed within 30 minutes; and
• Roadway PDDs must deploy emergency flashing lights when the device is disabled.
Outreach
• In addition to the outreach required of sidewalk device operators, roadway PDD operators must also engage bike advocacy organizations.
Racial Equity Impact Analysis
The population most likely to benefit or be harmed by the introduction of PDDs in San José is people with disabilities, particularly those who are older, people of color, or those experiencing lower incomes. According to a 2018 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
6, approximately 40% of adults age 65 and older in the
United States have a disability, with the rate increasing to approximately 50% among people of color in this age group. The study also found that the prevalence of disability increases as household income decreases, highlighting the intersection of disability, race, and economic inequity.
6 https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6732a3.htm?s_cid=mm6732a3_w
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
September 14, 2026
Subject: Authorizing Personal Delivery Devices in City Right-Of-Way
According to the 2025 census data,7 14.5% of the City’s population, approximately 144,000 people, were 65 years or older. Applying the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s findings, 40% of San José’s residents who are 65 and older, approximately 58,000 people, may have a disability. This is an estimate based on national data and is not a direct measure of the number of San José residents with disabilities.
PDDs may benefit San José residents, employees, and visitors with disabilities, particularly those with mobility-related disabilities or transportation barriers. Studies have found that food delivery services can improve access to food and other goods for people who face transportation or mobility barriers. However, delivery fees can increase the overall cost of these services, which may limit access for some people and create inequities in who benefits from using PDDs.
At the same time, some disabled people and disability advocates have raised concerns that PDDs can create obstacles or safety hazards on City sidewalks and crosswalks.
For example, a PDD can block a sidewalk, curb ramp, or crosswalk, reduce the space available for people using wheelchairs or other mobility devices, or create unexpected obstacles for people who are blind or have low vision. These situations can make it harder or less safe for people with disabilities to move around independently and access public spaces.
The City has sought to address these concerns through its administrative regulations and recommends that the City Council authorize the Transportation Director to approve the regulations. This will enable staff to modify the regulations swiftly if problems are identified. Staff will be monitoring PDD operations in the city, reviewing incident reports, and checking in with advocates to ensure that people with disabilities feel and are safe using the sidewalks.
Climate Smart San José Analysis
The proposed authorization of personal delivery devices in the City’s right-of-way, as detailed in this memorandum, will help advance several Climate Smart San José goals by facilitating the following:
• Reduction of energy or water consumption, or an increase in the demand for renewable energy;
• Reduction of vehicle miles traveled; and
• Enhancing the efficiency of and reducing emissions from commercial goods movement.
7 https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/sanjosecitycalifornia/AGE775225
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
September 14, 2026
Subject: Authorizing Personal Delivery Devices in City Right-Of-Way
EVALUATION AND FOLLOW-UP
Staff will provide updates on the PDD program to the Transportation and Environment Committee as part of the Transportation Department's regular reporting activity. It will also provide an update to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee with recommendations from the bike lane pilot delivery program.
Staff will make a recommendation to the City Council to normalize the Roadway PDD permit, extend the pilot, or disallow these devices in the City’s bike lanes before the one-year pilot permit expires.
FISCAL IMPACTS
The City intends to impose two per-device fees to offset personnel and other costs associated with managing this program. Between both proposed fees, staff estimates that the program will generate $21,500 in fee revenue to the General Fund. If both personal services and non-personal/equipment costs are considered, the combined fee revenue will cover approximately 21.9% of the total cost for the program.
This program will be managed by an existing staff position that also oversees the City's micromobility program, which includes the City’s bikeshare and fee-funded shared scooter programs. The budgeted position is currently funded in the General Fund and is slightly offset by program fees. Currently, those fees are generated solely by the shared scooter program.
The non-personal/equipment costs include an estimated cost of $17,000 to add PDDs to the City’s mobility data analytics contract with Blue Systems. Blue Systems helps cities monitor and manage data streams from vehicles and devices such as bikeshare, e-scooters, and delivery robots. The data will enable the City to track, among other things, the quantity and distribution of PDDs in the City, the number of trips they make over time and by operator, and whether operators are complying with the City’s regulations.
The table below represents the revenues, expenses, and cost recovery for the program based on expected activity for the proposed fees.
Fee per
Device
Estimated
Activity Revenue Expense Cost
Recovery
Sidewalk Personal Delivery
Device Permit Fee $200 70 $14,000 $39,317 35.6%
Roadway Personal Delivery
Device Permit Fee $250 30 $7,500 $58,975 12.7%
Total
$21,500 $98,292 21.9%
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
September 14, 2026
Subject: Authorizing Personal Delivery Devices in City Right-Of-Way
While the proposed fees are below 100% cost recovery, the recommended fees are rightsized to what the market will bear. The fees charged by cities for PDDs vary widely across the U.S. Staff is proposing rates consistent with those authorized by Los Angeles
8 and West Hollywood9, which are among the highest in the country.
Approving the Sidewalk Personal Delivery Device Permit Fee and the Roadway Personal Delivery Device Permit Fee is estimated to generate $21,500 in revenues from Fees, Rates, and Charges in the General Fund. Additionally, the expanded service incurs additional costs of approximately $17,000 for mobility data analytics, ongoing. At this time, the Transportation Department will absorb these costs under its existing General Fund Non-Personal/Equipment appropriation. Appropriation actions to recognize the additional revenue and recommend expenditure adjustments will be brought forward as part of a future budget process if necessary.
Staff will continue to evaluate the program and monitor permit activity to inform future adjustments as part of the 2027-2028 budget development process, as appropriate.
COORDINATION
This memorandum was coordinated with the City Attorney's Office and the Planning, Building, and Code Enforcement Department.
PUBLIC OUTREACH
This memorandum will be posted on the City Council Agenda website for the October 6, 2026 City Council meeting.
Between May and September 2026, staff sought feedback from the City’s communities on PDDs and the City’s proposed administrative regulations. During this period, staff made presentations to eight organizations and community leaders. More are being scheduled. Staff focused on neighborhood and business associations located within districts where the operators are currently operating or have expressed interest in doing so once permitted. Meetings held as of the date of this memorandum:
1. Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, May 18
2. Meeting with the Chair of the Committee on Access and Transportation for the CA Council of the Blind and the President of the Silicon Valley Council of the Blind, June 4
3. Paseo District Committee, June 22
8 https://ladot.lacity.gov/sites/default/files/documents/final-personal-delivery-devices-pdd-rules-and- guidelines.pdf
9 https://weho.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=16&clip_id=4297&meta_id=310231
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
September 14, 2026
Subject: Authorizing Personal Delivery Devices in City Right-Of-Way
4. Citywide Zoom Community meeting, July 21
5. Alameda Business Association, met with two board members, July 30
6. Heritage District meeting, August 3
7. Alameda Business Association all-members meeting, August 27
8. Willow Glen Neighborhood Association meeting, September 14
Currently scheduled:
1. Joint (downtown) Condo Coalition Meeting, September 30
2. Willow Glen Business Association meeting, October 13
BOARD, COMMISSION, COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION AND INPUT
This item was heard by the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee on May 18, 2026, and input was received. No vote was taken, but the input included the following recommendations:
• Do not set a speed limit on roadway delivery devices. Instead, require devices to go no faster than the speed of bicyclists riding ahead of them and no slower than cyclists following them.
• If, for any reason, devices cannot match the speed of cyclists following them, the device should pull to the side of the road to allow the cyclist to pass. • If the device encounters an obstacle and a cyclist is following it, the device should wait until the cyclist passes before moving to circumvent the obstacle. • The fee (fine) structure should incentivize proper operation, including prompt removal of disabled robots from bike lanes.
• The devices should use additional retroreflective markings in case their lighting fails.
CEQA
Not a Project, File No. PP17-008, General Procedure and Policy Making resulting in no changes to the physical environment.
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
September 14, 2026
Subject: Authorizing Personal Delivery Devices in City Right-Of-Way
PUBLIC SUBSIDY REPORTING
This item does not include a public subsidy as defined in section 53083 or 53083.1 of the California Government Code or the City’s Open Government Resolution.
/s/
JOHN RISTOW JIM SHANNON
Director, Department of Transportation Budget Director
For questions, please contact Laura Stuchinsky, Associate Transportation Specialist, Emerging Mobility Program Lead, Transportation Department, at [email protected].
ATTACHMENT:
PDD Photos
Attachment - PDD Photos
DoorDash
(roadway)
Coco Robotics
(sidewalk)
Serve Robotics
(sidewalk)