Driverless cars in Austin, like their human-operated counterparts, have earned citations for moving and parking violations, per a review by Axios.

Why it matters: Depending on the type of violation involved, penalizing driverless cars can bring its own challenges, spelling difficulties for local governments trying to catch up in a world increasingly featuring robots.

State of play: Vehicles operated by driverless car companies got 21 parking citations in Austin from November 2024 to the end of this May, per information obtained by Axios from the city.

• Waymo vehicles earned 20 of those citations, chiefly for parking in tow-away zones or failing to pay a meter.
• Zoox, the driverless firm run by Amazon, earned a single citation for a vehicle parked in a tow-away zone in July 2025.

Context: The city issues about 210,000 parking citations annually, Austin officials tell Axios.

Yes, but: Ticketing autonomous vehicles (AVs) for moving violations requires extra steps that don't exist when a human driver is behind the wheel.

• Austin police have issued just six such citations to AVs, a spokesperson for the department tells Axios.

What they're saying: "Unfortunately, we can't simply issue a ticket like an officer can on a human driver, which only takes a few minutes," Austin police officer Lt. William White told city council members in an April meeting.

• In the case of an AV, police must complete a sworn affidavit that describes the violation and submit it to the municipal court.
• "It's more time-consuming and cumbersome for officers to deal with that," White, who serves on the city's autonomous vehicle task force, added.

Put another way, when a driverless car "commits a violation, the citation is issued to the registered owner, which is typically a corporation," Stacy McKenzie, administrative specialist with the Austin Municipal Court tells Axios via email.

The other side: "Waymo pays valid tickets issued for our vehicles, like any other driver, and we do not expect different treatment with regards to ticketing," Waymo spokesperson Chris Bonelli tells Axios.

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Austin's Sarah Dooley turned a pandemic-era parenting strategy into a business.

Zoom in: Through her company, AI-Empowered Mom, Dooley teaches families how to reduce the invisible mental load that often falls on mothers.

• Dooley is also developing an AI family assistant called Em and hosts a podcast and newsletter focused on helping parents adapt to the rapidly changing technology.
• And her book, "AI Empowered Family," will be published next April.

We chatted with Dooley about raising children in our AI world, outsourcing household tasks to technology and what she'd never hand over to AI.

This interview has been condensed and lightly edited.

1. How did you first start using AI as a parent?

"Having three kids in 18 months is what started me on my journey with AI because once we had three babies — and my twins were just six months old when COVID hit — my husband and I needed all the help we could to keep this household running."

2. How do you talk to your kids about AI?

"It's a computer that can help us in our lives, but it's not a human. It's not a friend."

The full interview

🛍️ Ariana Grande fans lined up around the block of Eighth Street and Congress Avenue yesterday morning for the singer's exclusive fan experience shop. Grande is scheduled to perform Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at the Moody Center. (Austin American-Statesman)

🚑 EMS officials are expanding hiring as call volume climbs and staffing is low in western Travis County. (Community Impact)

✈️ Delta will launch a new nonstop route connecting Austin to San Jose, California, in October. (KXAN)

📊 Stat du jour

📈 In a poll released this morning by UT's Texas Politics Project, 84% of GOP voters said that they would support Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in his bid for U.S. Senate if the contest were held today.

• That's compared to 63% in April.
• Overall, Paxton leads state Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin) 43% to 42%, with 10% having no opinion.

Flat tries are more common in the summer months, when high temperatures raise the risk of leaks and blowouts.

What's happening: Our Axios Kansas City colleague Travis Meier gave us some helpful instruction on how to change a flat.

• Let's take it back to driving 101.

Zoom in: Check in advance that your car has the right stuff. You should have a spare wheel and tire, a lug nut wrench, and a jack with a detachable handle.

First: Place the jack near your wheel under the steel frame of your car. Attach the handle and start spinning until the jack meets the metal and starts raising the car.

Second: Before the tire comes off the ground, use the wrench to loosen the lug nuts.

• You'll want the friction of rubber on concrete to keep the wheel from spinning, and you'll have to use some elbow grease.

Third: Raise the wheel completely off the ground, take off the lug nuts, and pull the wheel off.

Finally: Put the spare on, screw the lugs on most of the way, lower the car till the tire touches, tighten the lugs all the way, and collapse the jack.

Texas French Bread's beloved brick-and-mortar restaurant and bakery, by West 29th and Rio Grande streets, is working its way back.

• Last week the restaurant served dinner for the first time in four and a half years — and it's is now operating a limited evening service, Tuesday-Saturday, co-owner Murph Willcott tells Axios.

Flashback: The building burned down in January 2022.

Sneak peek: Tonight's menu includes lamb meatballs ($18) and trout with braised cabbage and capers ($31).

What they're saying: "We're trying to hire and train as quickly as we can," Willcott says.

• He estimated about two weeks until the bakery portion is open. For now, its adjacent trailer offers baked goods and lunch 7am-3pm daily.

The bottom line: The restaurant is now taking reservations — an amazing recovery from a devastating event.