The Los Angeles City Council will consider taking steps to strengthen their ability to regulate self-driving vehicles as concerns mount.
Council members are expected to meet Tuesday, June 11, to consider recommendations to address issues with the city’s ‘autonomous vehicles’. In addition, the council will consider supporting three state bills aimed at giving municipalities more power to regulate AVs and access testing data.
The city’s Chief Legislative Analyst made these recommendations after the City Council passed a motion introduced in November 2023 by Councilmembers Traci Park and Bob Blumenfield. The motion called for details on local, state and federal laws governing the use of AVs, options for the city to access testing data and opportunities to support legislation that would allow Los Angeles elected officials to use AVs within city limits to regulate.
In March 2024, the California Public Utilities Commission authorized Waymo, an AV company, to expand its operations in the Los Angeles area. The company then soon launched its Waymo One service, a driverless ride-hailing service in a 40-square-mile area stretching from Santa Monica and Venice to downtown Los Angeles.
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Waymo had been testing some of its vehicles in Los Angeles since October 2023, and company officials had said more than 15,000 such trips took place during that time.
Waymo had already offered service in San Francisco and Phoenix. In addition to Los Angeles, the company also began operations in Austin, Texas. Some questions have been raised about the safety of AV technology.
The Los Angeles Times reported how a Waymo vehicle struck a closing gate at USC. Company officials said the car had just dropped off passengers and was leaving the campus as it approached the gate, which closed on the car and caused some minor scratches.
Waymo has released data showing that its vehicles experience an 85% reduction in injury-causing crashes and a 57% reduction in police-reported crashes compared to human-driven vehicles. Waymo collected the data from 7.14 million miles of autonomous vehicle trips in the Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco areas.
The U.S. National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 gives the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration the authority to investigate vehicle accidents and ensure that vehicle manufacturers meet federal motor vehicle safety standards. In 2021, the agency was given the authority to monitor the safety of AV technology.
In California, a limited number of AV companies are allowed to test, research and test AV programs on public streets in designated locations as a result of SB 1298, authored by then-State Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Pacoima, and signed into law by then-Gov. ; Jerry Brown in 2012.
Under the bill, the Department of Motor Vehicles has the power to regulate the testing and deployment of AV technology. Additionally, the California Public Utilities Commission has jurisdiction over passenger safety and over passenger transportation companies such as buses and trains, and rideshare app companies such as Uber and Lyft.
In 2018, the commission initiated two AV pilot programs, which allow companies to use AV technology with the requirement to obtain permits from the DMV and comply with DMV regulations.
