If and when Waymo comes to the capital city, the driverless “robotaxi” car network may find way more regulations than it counted on.

City Council President Rebecca Noecker has authored a resolution, to be considered on Wednesday’s council agenda, that calls for a wide-ranging study of “autonomous vehicle labor and community protections” in advance of any future robotaxi roll-outs in St. Paul.

The resolution states that the city “should establish these standards proactively, before autonomous vehicle companies begin commercial operations in the city, so that the city can thoughtfully determine the appropriate role of autonomous vehicles while protecting workers, residents and the public.”

The resolution prescribes that the study will consider, at a minimum, impacts on transportation workers, including potential job displacement and workforce transitions; public safety, emergency response, and winter-weather operations; the needs of the disabled; traffic, parking, pedestrian and bicycle impacts; data storage and law enforcement access to data; public transparency and reporting requirements around operators, mileage and safety incidents; and “the city’s authority to license, regulate, monitor, and enforce standards for commercial autonomous vehicle operations.”

Multi-billion dollar transportation company

Waymo, which started as a Google research project in 2009, has grown into a multi-billion dollar transportation company serving 15 metropolitan areas from San Francisco to Miami.

Its website lists another 17 markets on the horizon, including Minneapolis, Portland, Ore., Boston, Mass., London England, and Tokyo, Japan.

The Silicon Valley-based company has been mapping routes throughout the Twin Cities, using drivers (for now). In a bit of a poke to its driverless eye, the Minneapolis City Council voted 7-6 this month to pass an ordinance requiring autonomous vehicles to be accompanied by “human safety monitors” — individuals with immediate access to the brakes and steering — which would seemingly defeat the purpose of a driverless car.

The “Workers Drive Minneapolis” ordinance, intended to protect Uber and Lyft drivers, was quickly vetoed by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, setting up the possibility of the council pursuing a veto override.

Partnerships with public transit

Critics have also pointed to news accounts of software glitches and traffic stand-offs involving Waymos, including a rider who was locked in a Waymo in December 2024 as it drove in circles around a parking lot in Scottsdale, Ariz., and a Waymo that drove through a Denver farmers market in September.

Even as labor advocates fear the loss of thousands of driver jobs, Waymo has attempted to market itself as a safety-conscious provider of sober rides home, an asset for the disabled and a potential connector to public transit. It’s received the support of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Minnesota, as well as some key lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle who believe autonomous vehicles can offer environmentally-sustainable efficiencies.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, Waymo has partnered with the public transit provider Caltrain to set up dedicated parking spaces for its cars. It’s also rolling out a VISA cashback incentive program that covers the cost of bus fare ($2.85) for users who book a Waymo and take public transit within two hours of each other.

Rather than simply make a bid for Uber’s routes, Waymo has in some cases partnered with Uber to provide its driverless rides. In Atlanta, Georgia and Austin, Texas, Waymo can be booked through the Uber app.

Waymo isn’t the only robotaxi venture rolling into metropolitan areas. Commercial autonomous vehicle companies include Tesla’s Cybercab, which operates exclusively for now in Austin, Texas, and Amazon’s Zoox, which is currently active in Las Vegas and San Francisco.

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