Sidewalks aren’t just for walking anymore.

Citizens surprised by the sudden onslaught of electric scooters on San Jose sidewalks will soon be confronted with another competitor in the space previously considered the domain of pedestrians.

Starship Technologies has just announced a press conference for Friday, at which San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo is expected to help “welcome Starship delivery robots to the city.”

The Estonia-based startup’s sidewalk-crawling robots resemble wheeled ice coolers. After they were deployed in San Francisco last year, the city’s government imposed severe limitations on their use, limiting their speed and requiring a human handler.

“The San Jose approval is a stepping stone for the company to revolutionize vast adoption of Personal Delivery Devices,” according to Starship.

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The city of San Jose confirmed the robots had been approved but said details, such as the number to be deployed, were not yet available. Mayor Sam Liccardo said he had both hopes and reservations concerning the sidewalk robots.

“I’m withholding judgment,” Liccardo said. “I’d like to see and learn more as we see them out on the street. It’s tempting to regulate when there’s a new technology that’s deployed in such a visible way but it’s important to understand whether the disruption is such that really requires regulation.”

The devices could prove beneficial for the Bay Area’s “rapidly aging population” and people with disabilities, Liccardo said. “These robots can be helpful tools for needed medications, groceries or other necessities,” he said.

Still, “anytime anything is in the right of way, whether it’s in the sidewalks or in the street we should be wary,” Liccardo said, adding that it was important to maintain “the primacy of the pedestrian.”

Redwood City had allowed a pilot program that saw about a dozen Starship robots delivering food and groceries. City officials declared the program a success and in November opened the way for another similar firm to operate, as long as sidewalk robots had company markers on them, followed more defined routes and safety issues were reported within 24 hours, according to The Daily Journal. The robots also operate in Palo Alto, Walnut Creek and Foster City. And Concord last year also approved a pilot test of Starship’s robots in its downtown area.

Get tech news in your inbox weekday mornings. Sign up for the free Good Morning Silicon Valley newsletter. Details about Starship’s plans for San Jose are to be revealed at the press conference Friday.

The deployment plan comes as sidewalk users in San Jose and other Bay Area cities contend with a deluge of easy-to-rent electric scooters that “just sort of appeared,” in the words of San Jose Councilman Raul Peralez.

Liccardo said he was pushing city officials to prod scooter-rental companies into putting stickers or signs on the devices describing where they can be ridden and where they should be parked. Also, state law requires the e-scooters to be ridden in bike lanes, not on sidewalks, and Liccardo said the city needed to do a better job of communicating that to riders.