Google’s Gemini AI is getting one step closer to being more like an actual assistant. Starting with some Pixel 10 phones and the Samsung Galaxy S26 series, Gemini will be able to hail an Uber or put together a DoorDash order on its own.
It’s called task automation, and it starts with a prompt to Gemini — something like “Get me an Uber to the Palace of Fine Arts.” Gemini then launches the app in a virtual window on your device and goes through the process step-by-step. You can watch it all happen, with options to stop the automation or take control if necessary, or just let it run in the background while Gemini does its thing. The assistant will notify you if it needs your attention to choose between two options, or if something you asked it to look for is out of stock. Once your ride or grocery cart is all set, Gemini will alert you to take a look and submit the final order yourself.
According to Android ecosystem president Sameer Samat, this is one step on the journey from thinking of Android not as an operating system, but as an “intelligence system.” And app automations aren’t strictly limited to Gemini. Samat says that this ability for an AI assistant to automate tasks is coming to Android’s next major release, so we can expect to hear more about it as more is revealed about Android 17.
So how exactly is Gemini putting together your burger order? The demos I saw were based on Gemini 3 opening the app and using reasoning to click through the various steps, find the right options, and consider alternatives. But app developers can also expose certain actions using MCP or Android’s app functions framework — Google’s been laying the groundwork for the latter since at least 2024. Where neither of those things exists, the idea is that Gemini will get in there and figure it out by itself. “We see it as a series of technology stacks, none of which the user really cares about — they just want it to happen,” Samat explains. “We think it’s important to support all of those, so that over time you can have an assistant that can complete all kinds of different tasks for you.”
So, in a future where Gemini takes the wheel and uses your apps for you, isn’t there a possibility of this rubbing app developers the wrong way? Doesn’t Uber want the chance to remind me that I can save a bunch of money by signing up for Uber One? “This technology is happening,” Samat says, and the question for the developer community is “…how do we figure out the right ways to embrace it together?”
The journey to figuring that future out starts very soon indeed. For now, task automation is limited to just a handful of apps, including Uber and Grubhub, and will be available in the US and Korea as an early preview on the S26 series as well as the Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, and Pixel 10 Pro XL.
