HB986: HB986 Motor vehicles; personal delivery devices; revise operation procedures and restrictions

Georgia law already allows small automated personal delivery devices, robots that carry packages, to operate on sidewalks and roadways alongside electric personal assistive mobility devices like scooters. This bill changes two parts of that law (O.C.G.A. §§ 40-6-321 and 40-6-322). First, it adds a new safety rule requiring a personal delivery device to emit a sound whenever it is moving and comes within six feet of a vehicle, a pedestrian, or someone in a wheelchair. Second, it raises the maximum speed these devices can travel on sidewalks, shared use paths, and safety zones from 4 miles per hour to 7 miles per hour, and raises the crosswalk speed range from a maximum of 4 miles per hour to a maximum of 7 miles per hour (keeping the minimum of 3.5 feet per second). The bill repeals any conflicting laws and does not list a separate delayed effective date within the text provided.

• Requires personal delivery devices to emit a sound when moving and within six feet of a vehicle, pedestrian, or person in a wheelchair, a new safety warning requirement.
• Raises the sidewalk, shared use path, and safety zone speed cap for personal delivery devices from 4 miles per hour to 7 miles per hour.
• Raises the crosswalk speed cap for personal delivery devices from 4 miles per hour to 7 miles per hour while keeping the 3.5 feet per second minimum.
• Keeps the existing 20 mile per hour speed limit for personal delivery devices on bicycle lanes, shoulders, or roadways unchanged.
• Keeps the existing duty for device operators to yield to and avoid colliding with pedestrians, adding the sound requirement on top of it.

Companies and operators that run automated personal delivery devices (delivery robots) in Georgia, pedestrians and people using wheelchairs who share sidewalks and crosswalks with these devices, and local governments that regulate device use through local ordinances under O.C.G.A. § 40-6-371.

Pedestrians would now get an audible warning when a delivery robot comes close, which could reduce surprise encounters, but the devices would also be allowed to move faster on sidewalks and crosswalks than before, changing the everyday experience of sharing those spaces with them.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 40-6-321 to add a requirement that personal delivery devices emit a sound when in motion within six feet of a vehicle, pedestrian, or person in a wheelchair.
• Section 1 keeps the existing duty to exercise due care and yield the right of way to people on foot.
• Section 2 rewrites subsection (b) of O.C.G.A. § 40-6-322 to raise the sidewalk, shared use path, and safety zone speed limit from 4 to 7 miles per hour.
• Section 2 raises the crosswalk maximum speed from 4 to 7 miles per hour while keeping the 3.5 feet per second minimum speed.
• Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2026-05-11Effective Date 2026-07-01
2. 2026-05-11Act 442
3. 2026-05-11House Date Signed by Governor (House)
4. 2026-04-06House Sent to Governor (House)
5. 2026-03-19Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
6. 2026-03-19Senate Third Read (Senate)
7. 2026-03-16Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
8. 2026-03-12Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)

• Todd Jones (R, HD-025)Primary sponsor
• Scott Hilton (R, HD-048)
• David Huddleston (R, HD-072)
• Rick Townsend (R, HD-179)
• Carter Barrett (R, HD-024)
• Frank Ginn (R, SD-047)

1. PassedHouse voteFebruary 11, 2026

   162 yea, 3 nay (4 not voting, 6 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #497

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 19, 2026

   44 yea, 2 nay (2 not voting, 6 absent)

   Passage: Senate Vote #752

• delivery robots
• personal delivery devices
• sidewalk safety
• traffic law
• pedestrian safety