D.C.’s transportation committee voted down a bill that would legalize passenger service in self-driving cars operated by Waymo and other companies, stalling an almost 15 year effort to bring this technology to the District.
D.C. Council members Charles Allen and Christina Henderson voted for the bill on Thursday, while Zachary Parker, Elissa Silverman and Mayor-elect Janeese Lewis George voted against. In a symbolic move, as the bill would have failed regardless, council Chair Phil Mendelson — who’s allowed to vote in any committee — popped in to vote “yes.” Though lawmakers shared a general sense of support for autonomous vehicles, they disagreed about when they should be rolled out and under what conditions.
“D.C. cannot be a guinea pig,” Lewis George said in the markup, before addressing the bill’s author (and her oftentimes ally) Allen. “I do want to work with you, and I want my administration to work with you to get deployment right.”
It was a victory for the members of local labor unions and D.C.’s chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, who packed the room on Thursday afternoon to voice their concerns with AV deployment more broadly.
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“It’s not like we’re against technology, or against innovation, it’s just that if you’re gonna bring in this type of technology into a city to replace human being workers, you have to take the time to do it right,” Jaime Contreras, executive vice president of the local service workers union, told reporters after the markup. “That’s what we’re asking.”
Allen and other advocates for the bill took issue with the charge that it had been rushed through. The District had one of the nation’s first AV testing laws on the books in 2012. Waymo, the nation’s largest AV operator, began testing here in 2024. In the last two and a half years, the council held three public hearings on how to get the rollout right, and landed on a bill that Allen called “the most worker-friendly, the most safety-focused, the most progressive legislation” in the country.
But Allen, the committee chair, said he was not surprised by the outcome of the vote. All those who voted against the bill spoke publicly to the fact that they would earlier this week, prompting Allen to release a redrafted bill on Tuesday with major changes including giving rideshare drivers and AV facility workers collective bargaining rights, capping the total number of AVs at 800 across all companies, and introducing a requirement that all operators ensure 20% of their fleet is wheelchair accessible by 2032.
“If someone were to actually step back, read what’s in the bill, the very things they say that they want: safer streets, protections for workers, a robust regime that keeps an eye on a growing technology — they will see it in this bill. They will not see it in any other jurisdiction, and that’s what I’m going to ask my colleagues to evaluate,” Allen told reporters before unveiling the changes. “We’ll see where the chips fall.”
It wasn’t enough to sway his colleagues, or the unions who have their ears. An SEIU spokesperson told The Washington Sun that unions want to see a “clear legal process” that allows rideshare drivers to organize and negotiate with the companies, fair wage standards, a shared platform requirement and an explanation of exactly how workers will be protected from losing their jobs or income beyond a general displacement fund.
Now that the can has been officially kicked down the road, Allen and other AV advocates worry whether operators like Waymo will build out facilities in other jurisdictions or result in a revised bill without this one’s key labor or accessibility provisions.
“It’s a real risk,” Allen told reporters. “The things that we were able to get into this version of the bill, may not be as strong when Virginia or Maryland or other jurisdictions move forward.”
Waymo had already begun to build out a footprint in D.C. in anticipation of the bill’s passing, with three charging and maintenance facilities across the city, and has promised to bring hundreds of jobs to the District — one of which it’s already hiring for.
A Waymo spokesperson told The Sun in a statement that they “remain ready to work with the Council,” but warned that “postponing this debate delays the additional investments and jobs that come with scaling our operations.”
AV advocates, such as Malcom Fox of Opportunity D.C., are skeptical that council members will actually take this up in January, when the mayor-elect begins to tackle her laundry list of ambitious goals — including building 72,000 homes and navigating an $800 million deficit — while heading into budget season.
“The earliest I could really see a committee vote would be sometime in September of next year, and then it still has to go through both legislative session votes and all the things that come with it,” Fox told The Sun. “And then this bill calls for a one year advanced testing period before AVs are even allowed to operate.”
Lewis George told reporters after the markup that she will make working on this legislation a priority once she takes office.
“My hope is a group of agencies will come together to convene, to figure out how we get this right, what regulations need to be put in place, particularly our safety agencies are most concerned,” the mayor-elect said. “I’ve said time again, I’m not against AVs, I do want them to come here. I do want that innovation.”
It could mean standing opposed to the labor unions who have shown her massive support through her campaigning. As Contreras told The Sun, if he “could have it his way,” there’d be no AVs in D.C. at all.
“People have to meet me where I am, I have to meet them where they are,” Lewis George said.
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