AI is moving into San Jose residents’ phones, shopping apps and rides, and new California rules on chatbots start Jan. 1

For most people in San Jose, the biggest change from artificial intelligence in the next year will not be a robot at the door.  It will be AI built into the phone, speaker, shopping app and ride app they already use, plus two new California rules that start Jan. 1, 2027, according to company announcements and state records.

Some of this is already here.  Some is scheduled.  Some, like a humanoid robot that does household chores, is still mostly a promise.  Robots that do one chore, such as vacuuming, mowing the lawn or cleaning a pool, are already for sale, and small delivery robots already roll down some San Jose sidewalks.  Here is what is real, what is coming and what is not proven yet.

Your phone and speaker

Apple released iOS 27 on Sept. 14, 2026, with a new version of Siri it calls Siri AI.  It is still labeled a beta, or test, version.  Apple says Siri AI can search a user’s own messages, emails and photos, answer questions about what is on the screen and take actions across apps, such as drafting an email.

Siri AI works on the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 16 or later, Apple’s support page says.  It is not available to users under 13, and usage limits may apply.  Other iOS 27 features include Call Context, which brings up details like a confirmation code when you call a business, and a Safari tool that alerts you when a web page changes, such as a price drop or restock.

Google is replacing Google Assistant with Gemini on its Nest and Google Home speakers and displays.  Homes are invited in stages through the Google Home app, Google’s help page says.  Basic features, such as timers, lists, reminders and smart-home controls, are free.  Features like searching your camera history require Google Home Premium, which Google says starts at $10 a month.  Once a home switches to Gemini, it cannot switch back.

Shopping that does more of the work

On May 13, 2026, Amazon launched Alexa for Shopping, free to all U.S. customers in the Amazon app and website.  Amazon says it can show up to a year of price history, add items to your cart on a schedule and, for eligible products on other websites, complete the purchase for you with your saved address and card.

On May 19, 2026, Google announced Universal Cart, a shopping cart that works across stores in Google Search and the Gemini app.  Google said it would roll out in the U.S. this summer, with YouTube and Gmail later.  The cart watches for price drops and restocks.  Google also said it would begin adding a system that lets an AI agent pay for something only within limits you set, such as brands and a spending cap, “in the coming months.”  Google has not given a firm date for that step.

Driverless rides in more of San Jose

Waymo began pickups and drop-offs at San José Mineta International Airport on Nov. 12, 2025, the company’s help page says.  It added more of San Jose and Campbell on May 20, 2026.  On Oct. 27, 2026, Waymo said it would extend Bay Area service farther south within a week, including a stop at the Berryessa BART station.

To ride, you download the Waymo app, and up to four passengers can ride at once.  Waymo’s San Francisco page says riders can travel the Peninsula from San Francisco down to San Jose, but not to San Francisco International Airport.  Waymo does not post a fixed fare.  Its help page says each price is based on a minimum charge, the distance and the trip time, and can change with demand, tolls and airport fees.  The app shows an estimated fare before you request a ride.

Waymo is the only company with a California Public Utilities Commission permit for paid rides with no driver, according to the commission’s permit list.  Zoox and WeRide hold permits only for driverless pilot programs.  Tesla is listed by the San Jose airport as an app-based ride provider, but it does not appear on the commission’s list of autonomous vehicle permits.

Zoox, a robotaxi company founded in the Bay Area, does not serve San Jose.  In San Francisco it gives free rides to people it invites off a waitlist in the Zoox app, starting in the SoMa, Mission and Design District neighborhoods, the company says.  In March 2026 Zoox said that area would grow this spring to include the Marina, North Beach, Chinatown, Pacific Heights and the Embarcadero.  Riders must be at least 6, and the person booking must be 18 or older.  Zoox also carries riders in Las Vegas.

Tesla, the electric carmaker, lists Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Miami, Orlando, San Antonio and Tampa as the cities where people can hail its autonomous rides, according to its robotaxi page.  No California city is on that list.  Tesla separately sells Full Self-Driving (Supervised), software that steers, changes lanes and parks, for $99 a month.  Tesla’s page says the feature needs the driver’s active supervision and does not make the car autonomous.

Waymo says its cars had 82% fewer injury-causing crashes than average human drivers over the same distance, through June 2026.  That comparison is Waymo’s own analysis of data it reports to federal regulators.  It covers city streets, not freeways.

Robots on the sidewalk

Two companies send small, self-driving delivery robots down San Jose sidewalks.  Both carry orders placed in a food delivery app.  Neither company’s announcement lists a separate price for a robot delivery.

Coco Robotics, a delivery robot company based in Venice Beach in Los Angeles, began delivering in downtown San Jose on April 22, 2026, through Uber Eats, the company said.  It was Coco’s first Bay Area city.

Serve Robotics, another sidewalk robot company, calls San Jose its first Bay Area market.  Its robots carry DoorDash orders, and an early San Jose partner is Bavetta Coffee in the Alameda district, Serve said Sept. 1.

The city is setting rules for the robots.  On Oct. 6 the City Council took up a new city code chapter on “personal delivery devices,” with a yearly permit fee of $200 for each sidewalk robot and $250 for each robot in a pilot program for robots that use the street, city records show.  The ordinance was passed for publication that day and placed on the Oct. 20 agenda for final adoption.  The city’s online record does not yet show the final vote.

At the doctor’s office

Many Bay Area patients have already met an AI note-taker.  Between October 2023 and December 2024, 7,260 Permanente Medical Group doctors in Northern California used an AI scribe in about 2.58 million patient visits, the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research reported.  The tool listens to the visit and drafts a summary.  Patients are told it is in use, doctors review and edit the notes, and the tool does not make care decisions, Kaiser says.

“Both doctors and patients highly value face-to-face contact during a visit, and the AI scribe supports that.”  — Vincent Liu, MD, chief data officer, The Permanente Medical Group

Since Jan. 1, 2025, California law has required clinics and doctors’ offices to tell patients when AI writes a message about their health, unless a licensed provider reviewed it, and to explain how to reach a human, the Medical Board of California says.

Home robots are ordered, not delivered

1X, a Palo Alto robot company, has been taking orders for NEO, a humanoid robot for chores.  It costs $20,000 to buy or $499 a month by subscription, with a $200 refundable deposit.  1X opened a factory in Hayward in April 2026.  It said first robots would go to its own staff for testing, and that first customer shipments are planned for 2026.  As of Nov. 12, its order page still says only “US Deliveries start 2026.”  1X has not said how many robots customers will get, or when.  For chores NEO has not learned, the order page says, a 1X worker can remotely supervise the robot at scheduled times to teach it.

Figure, another humanoid robot company, says its Figure 03 robot is designed to do laundry, cleaning and dishes on its own.  Figure’s website lists no price, order page or delivery date.

For most households, a robot that does all the chores is not likely to arrive in the next year.  The home robots people can buy today each do one job.

Robot vacuums and mops

Robot vacuums are sold direct by their makers and in big stores such as Costco.  iRobot, the maker of the Roomba, lists models on its U.S. site from $279.99 for the Roomba 105 Vac with a self-emptying dock, on sale from $449.99, to $1,199.99 for the Roomba Max 875 Combo, which also mops and washes its own mop pads.  Roborock, another major brand, lists 21 robot vacuums on its U.S. store, with sale prices from $139.99 for the Q7 L5 to $1,599.99 for the Saros 20.  Its Saros Z70, which has a small arm to pick up items like socks, was on sale for $1,299.99, down from $2,599.99.  Prices on both sites change often, especially before Black Friday.

These robots map your rooms with sensors, such as lidar, a laser that measures distance, and run on a schedule you set in a phone app, the companies say.  The pricier models empty their own dust bins and wash their own mops in a base station.

Robot lawn mowers

Husqvarna, a maker of mowers and chainsaws, lists its Automower 410 iQ at $2,599.99 for lawns up to half an acre.  It was out of stock on Nov. 12.  It finds its place by satellite and cell signals instead of a wire buried around the lawn, where Husqvarna’s cloud service is available.  It can climb slopes up to 45% inside the lawn but only 15% at the edge, and it has an alarm, a PIN code and GPS tracking in case it is stolen, the company says.

Segway Navimow lists its i2 LiDAR mower at $1,399, down from $1,599, and its larger X4 from $2,499.  Worx says its Landroid Vision Cloud mowers, sized from a quarter acre to 1½ acres, map the yard with cameras and satellite positioning, need no wire and handle slopes up to 84%.  Worx’s product pages did not display a readable price when checked Nov. 12.

For a San Jose yard, the limits that matter are lawn size, slope and whether satellite positioning works at your address.  Husqvarna, Segway and Worx each offer an address check on their sites.

Robot pool cleaners

Maytronics, which makes Dolphin pool robots, lists models on its U.S. store from $568 for the Nautilus AG to $2,249 for the Active 60.  Its cordless Nautilus EON 100 was on sale for $599, down from $899.  The Nautilus Titan, at $1,599, scrubs the floor, walls and waterline of in-ground pools up to 50 feet long, then rises to the surface so you can lift it out, the company says.

New California rules starting Jan. 1

• Ask for a human: Starting Jan. 1, 2027, businesses with more than $500 million in yearly revenue cannot claim their customer service chatbot is a person.  During business hours they must let you ask for a human agent and try to connect you within 15 minutes or set a call within one business day.  Public prosecutors enforce the law, with fines of up to $5,000 for a first violation (AB 1609, signed Sept. 28, 2026).
• AI that decides big things: Also starting Jan. 1, 2027, businesses covered by the state privacy law that use automated tools to make major decisions about jobs, housing, loans, school or health care must tell you first.  In most cases they must let you opt out, unless they offer an appeal to a human who can overturn the decision (California Privacy Protection Agency rules).
• Chatbot companions: Since Jan. 1, 2026, apps offering companion chatbots must say they are not human when a person could be fooled.  For users they know are minors, they must remind them every three hours to take a break (SB 243).

Jobs and work

AI is spreading at work faster than it is replacing workers, according to Stanford University’s 2026 AI Index.  It found 88% of organizations surveyed used AI in 2025, but use of AI agents, programs that carry out multistep tasks, was in the single digits in nearly every business function.

The report found large job losses have not shown up in overall employment data.  But effects are uneven.  Employment for software developers ages 22 to 25 fell nearly 20% from 2024, and one-third of organizations expect AI to shrink their workforce in the coming year.  The report also notes concern that relying heavily on AI may slow how people build skills.

What it means

In the next year, AI will mostly change how you use things you already have:  how you ask your phone a question, how you shop and how you get a ride.  The robots you can buy now each do one job, like vacuuming or mowing.  A robot that does all the chores is still on order.  The new state rules aim to keep a human within reach when a company’s AI talks to you or makes a big decision about you.

The trade-off is privacy.  Many of these tools work better when they can read your email, photos, shopping history or camera video.  Amazon says what you tell Alexa on an Echo shapes what Alexa for Shopping shows you, and the reverse.  Home robots with cameras raise the same question, and 1X says a person may remotely guide its NEO robot.

What you can do

• Check your settings.  Before turning on a new assistant, review what it can read, such as your mail, photos or camera history, and turn off what you do not need.
• Set limits on buying.  If you let an AI shopping tool buy for you, review the saved card and address, and check every order confirmation.
• Ask for a person.  After Jan. 1, if a large company’s chatbot cannot help, ask for a human agent.
• Watch for notices.  If a landlord, lender or employer uses an automated tool on you, look for the required notice and opt-out or appeal link.
• Double-check AI answers.  AI can still make mistakes.  For health, money or legal questions, confirm with a person or an official source.
• Check the yard before the mower.  Measure your lawn and slopes, and use the maker’s address check before buying a wire-free robot mower.
• Try before you buy.  Many features are free trials or betas.  Wait for reviews and firm delivery dates before paying a deposit on a home robot.

Source:  Apple, iOS 27 and Siri AI release, Sept. 14, 2026; Google Home Help, Gemini for Home; Amazon, Alexa for Shopping, May 13, 2026; Google, Universal Cart, May 19, 2026; Waymo, Oct. 27, 2026; CPUC autonomous vehicle permits; AB 1609; CPPA ADMT regulations; Stanford HAI 2026 AI Index; Waymo, San Francisco rides; Zoox, San Francisco; Tesla Robotaxi; Coco Robotics, Apr. 22, 2026; Serve Robotics, Sept. 1, 2026; San José City Council file 26-1033; 1X, Order NEO; iRobot Roomba; Roborock robot vacuums; Husqvarna Automower 410 iQ; Maytronics Dolphin store.