More Local Issues for Self-Driving Cars

Just to round out this line of thought, let me make a few more points.

First, the irony is that San Francisco does not want to be Ground Zero for the introduction of robot taxis. The City recently sued California (unsuccessfully) arguing that the state improperly overrode the City's concerns about the public safety in giving a broad regulatory authorization to Waymo. The State, of course, can choose to adopt a uniform policy across, say, San Francisco, LA, and San Diego. My view is that each city should be free to fashion its own rules.

I've already mentioned traffic rules and enforcement as a local issue with special relevance to self-driving cars. Another municipal concern is crime. Sometimes a passenger in a Waymo may feel threatened by a pursuing car or a pedestrian at a stop. What's the policy or response for that? What if a passenger falls asleep in a Waymo at, say, 2AM? How should the vehicle respond? What about carjacking? Again, different cities should get to work out different policing solutions.

Then there's the business model for local taxis. Should cities partner with private operators? Run the robot taxis like a bus or subway service? Simply allow private companies to operate under a license. I don't know which of these is best. Let's try them all out.

Perhaps enough countries or states will adopt independent policies such that we can learn what we need to know without devolving power to the city level. The jury is still out on that one.