App-based delivery drivers and couriers

Delivery work looks like rideshare work and is regulated differently. The insurance framework California built was written around moving people, and a platform that moves burritos does not slot neatly into it. That gap is the whole subject of this page. This is general information, not legal advice.

The definitional gap

The Public Utilities Code framework applies to a transportation network company, defined as an organisation that provides prearranged transportation services for compensation using an online-enabled application or platform to connect passengers with drivers using a personal vehicle. The insurance requirements by app period attach to that definition.

A food or grocery delivery platform connects customers with couriers to move goods, not passengers. Whether and how the framework reaches it is not something to assume in either direction. The practical consequence for an injured person is that the coverage has to be established from the platform's actual policy and its terms rather than inferred from the rideshare rules.

In practice the major delivery platforms do carry liability coverage that responds during engaged deliveries, structured in tiers resembling the rideshare periods. That is a matter of what they bought, not of what the statute compels, which means the policy is the document that answers the question.

Sources: Pub. Util. Code, § 5431 (definition of a transportation network company — prearranged transportation connecting passengers with drivers); § 5433 (insurance requirements by app period, last amended Stats. 2025, ch. 314 (SB 371), effective January 1, 2026).

Proposition 22 and classification

Proposition 22 provides that an app-based driver is an independent contractor and not an employee or agent of the network company, so long as the company does not set specific working hours, does not require the driver to accept particular requests as a condition of platform access, does not restrict them from working for competing platforms outside an engaged job, and does not prevent them from pursuing other lawful work. It reaches delivery as well as passenger transport.

For an injured courier the consequence is the same as for a rideshare driver: outside workers' compensation, and reliant instead on the platform's occupational accident benefit, which is narrower and generally applies only during engaged time. Whether the statutory conditions were actually met is a question of fact rather than something settled in advance.

Sources: Bus. & Prof. Code, § 7451 (app-based driver as independent contractor where four conditions are met). Added by initiative Proposition 22, November 3, 2020, effective December 16, 2020.

Rideshare drivers injured on the job.

Couriers on bikes, scooters, and on foot

A significant share of urban delivery is done without a car, and the motor vehicle insurance framework simply does not reach it. What a courier hurt on a bicycle has instead:

• An ordinary claim against whoever struck them, on that person's liability policy.
• Uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage on their own household auto policy, which commonly reaches an insured injured as a pedestrian or cyclist even with no car involved.
• The platform's occupational accident benefit for engaged time.
• Health insurance, which will assert reimbursement against any recovery.

Couriers on bicycles are also subject to the rules that apply to any cyclist, including the equipment requirements — see bicycle accident claims and e-bikes, since much delivery work is now done on electric bicycles.

Health insurance liens · uninsured motorist claims.

What to establish early

• Which platform, and whether you were engaged on a delivery at the moment of the crash.
• Screenshots of the app showing the active order and its timestamps.
• The platform's insurance certificate for the relevant period, requested in writing.
• Your own policy's exclusions, and whether you carry a delivery endorsement.
• Earnings records across every platform you work for.

Common questions

Do the rideshare insurance rules cover food delivery?

Not straightforwardly. The Public Utilities Code framework is written around transportation network companies — prearranged transportation of passengers. A platform that moves food or groceries rather than people does not obviously fall inside that definition, so the coverage cannot be assumed and has to be established from the platform’s own policy.

Am I an employee of the delivery app?

Under Proposition 22 an app-based driver is an independent contractor rather than an employee where the network company meets four conditions about scheduling, accepting requests, working for competitors, and other work. Proposition 22 addresses delivery as well as transportation. Whether the conditions are met in a given case is a question of fact.

I deliver by bicycle. Does any of this apply?

The motor vehicle insurance framework does not, because there is no motor vehicle. What you have is an ordinary claim against whoever hit you, plus whatever occupational accident benefit the platform provides. Your own household auto policy may also carry uninsured motorist coverage that reaches you as a cyclist.

Does my personal auto policy cover me while delivering?

Often not. Delivery use is commonly excluded, sometimes under a different clause from the one covering passengers for hire. Some insurers sell a delivery endorsement. It is a declarations-page and policy-wording question, and worth answering before you need it.