Why D.C. hasn't greenlit Waymo and other robotaxis
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Waymo's all-electric Jaguars are testing with a human at the wheel. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
You can hail a robotaxi in Phoenix, Atlanta and very soon half-a-dozen more cities. Meanwhile, D.C.'s driverless future is bogged down in bureaucracy.
Why it matters: A bill to legalize driverless driving is stalled in a D.C. Council committee — and its chairman won't move it until the city publishes an overdue safety study.
State of play: Waymo's robotaxis began testing and mapping D.C. streets over a year ago. Jeff Bezos' Zoox just got in, too. But both companies must have humans at the wheel.
- The law that paved the way for the testing directed DDOT to draw up "recommendations to safely" deploy autonomous vehicles.
- DDOT promised the report this past fall.
- D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen tells me he began meeting with trial lawyers, safety advocates and Waymo in preparation of moving forward.
- But in September, DDOT backtracked, he says, telling him the report will be out in the new year, timeline unknown.
Friction point: That's not the only delay.
- Allen blames Mayor Muriel Bowser for not issuing permits for Waymo's next testing phase: fully driverless.
- "I don't know what the holdup is," Allen says. (Bowser's office didn't respond to a request for comment.)
Zoom in: Robotaxi superfans say the cars make fewer errors than human drivers.
- That matters in cities trying to reduce traffic deaths.
- Some people joke that robodrivers should replace Maryland drivers.
And robotaxis are no longer slowpokes.
- Waymo is becoming more like ... an Uber or NYC cab driver. It's making sudden U-turns, going around double-parked cars and switching lanes without a blinker, per the Wall Street Journal.
- To scale up in busy San Francisco, Waymo is making the robos "confidently assertive," product management director Chris Ludwick told the Journal.
The other side: Safety concerns persist.
- One recent headline: "Waymo robotaxi hits dog in San Francisco weeks after killing beloved cat."
- In LA, a Waymo drove into a police standoff. ("When we encounter unusual events like this, we learn from them," the company told NBC News.)
What they're saying: "Safety remains our highest priority, and we are committed to thoroughly evaluating emerging technologies that have significant implications for the traveling public," DDOT told me."
The intrigue: Oh the indignity, if you only care about local rivalries: Baltimore could get Waymo before D.C.!
- Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is all in, unlike D.C. leaders. "It's going to help spur growth," he says, and "make our roads safer."
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