San Jose is planning to propose a program to bring food delivery robots known as DoorDash Dot to the city, but some cyclists say they are concerned about sharing bike lanes with autonomous devices.
Tuesday, May 19, 2026 4:40PMSan Jose is looking at how to regulate food delivery robots that could eventually operate in city bike lanes. The city's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee discussed the idea Monday night.
The meeting was only a discussion, and city officials say there is no formal application from the company because there is no program currently in place that allows for such vehicles to operate. Later this year, the city plans to bring a proposed program to the San Jose City Council, which would make the final decision.
"It's a brave new world as far as food delivery robots go," said Colin Heyne with the San Jose Department of Transportation. The robots, known as DoorDash Dot, are designed to make short food deliveries. But some cyclists say they are concerned about sharing bike lanes with autonomous devices.
"Not a fan just because bike lanes are for bikes, which seems rather obvious," said Kevin Armstrong, an avid cyclist in San Jose. Redwood City company Serve Robotics has built autonomous sidewalk delivery robots and is hoping for a commercial launch in San Francisco soon.
"There are plenty of things that shouldn't be in the bike lane, and I don't want to be dodging robots," he said. Heyne said the city currently does not have regulatory authority over delivery robots in bike lanes. The city did, however, recently see the launch of Coco food delivery bots on sidewalks.
"The potential for larger bots that want to use bike lanes and travel faster, that's a new layer to this issue," Heyne said. "We don't currently have any regulatory authority over any of these delivery bots. " Possible rules discussed Monday include a one-year pilot permit, limits on the number of robots allowed, speed caps, no stopping or parking in bike lanes, required brakes, hazard lights, constant lighting, audible alerts and input from bike advocates.
Amy Thomson, policy director for the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, said community engagement will be important.
"We need to really be doing the community engagement, bringing in the experts and informed parties to see can do this safely and comfortably," Thomson said. Passengers on a Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland to San Diego arrived more than an hour late after a humanoid robot prompted a runway delay. DoorDash did not get back to ABC7 Eyewitness News for an interview, butthe company is still relying heavily on human Dashers using bikes, e-bikes and scooters.
DoorDash says those Dashers spent about 15% less time getting to restaurants and made more than 10% more per hour on the app than Dashers using cars. That's more money for Dashers and DoorDash's bottom line.of DoorDash Dot in March. SKY7 video showed one delivery robot traveling along the shoulder while making a delivery.
Some cyclists said they are not completely opposed to the idea, but want to see how it would work in real life in the Bay Area's biggest city.
"The idea is fine, I think the execution is where it comes down," Armstrong said. "I think I just worry about the robots kind of getting confused or stuck or just being in the way. "
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