San Diego has become the latest battleground in the growing debate over autonomous vehicles, with city leaders pushing back against the rapid expansion of Waymo‘s driverless taxi service and calling for more control over how robotaxis operate on the city’s streets.
San Diego City Council voted unanimously on September 14 to approve a resolution urging California lawmakers and Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom to give cities more control over autonomous vehicle operations, following Waymo’s official launch of public passenger service in the city earlier this month.
Currently, California regulates autonomous vehicles at the state level, with the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) overseeing testing and deployment and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) looking after the autonomous passenger service operations. This leaves local government agencies with next to no control over how autonomous vehicles operate in their own cities.
Why Is San Diego Concerned?
City officials insist they aren’t opposed to the technology itself. Instead, they believe that local governments should have more control over how autonomous vehicles affect public safety, traffic management, jobs and community infrastructure…