Waymo needs some help, according to an email message the self-driving developer sent to residents of Washington, DC, on Thursday.
For more than a year, Waymo has been pushing city officials to pass new regulations allowing its robotaxis to operate in the district. So far, self-driving cars can test in the city with humans behind the wheel, but cannot operate in driver-free mode. The Alphabet subsidiary—and its lobbyists—have asked local lawmakers, including Mayor Muriel Bower and members of the city council, to create new rules allowing the tech to go truly driverless on its public roads. The company has previously said it will begin offering driverless rides in DC this year.
But Waymo’s efforts to sway officials have stalled, so the company is now asking residents to apply some pressure. “We are nearly ready to provide public Waymo rides to everyone in DC,” says an email sent to those who have signed up for Waymo’s DC service. “However, despite significant support, District leadership has not yet provided the necessary approvals for us to launch.”
The email directs recipients to contact DC officials via a form letter that says, in part: “Over the past year, I have observed Waymo vehicles operating throughout our local areas, and I am thrilled about the potential advantages this service could provide, including enhanced accessibility and a decline in traffic-related incidents.” The communication urges DC residents to edit the letter to “use your own words,” because personalized messages “have a higher impact.” Only DC residents or those with DC addresses can participate, Waymo says.
In a written statement, Waymo spokesperson Ethan Teicher says, “We’ll be ready to serve Washingtonians this year, and urge the Mayor, the District Department of Transportation, and the City Council to act.” The company says that 1,500 people contacted district leaders through its email in the first 90 minutes after it was sent.
Generally, self-driving vehicle developers have only launched service in places where regulations clearly outline how the tech might hit the roads. Other US cities with Waymo service, including ones in California, Florida, and Texas, already had those rules in place before the company entered their markets. But as Waymo’s ambitions have grown larger, it has begun to target large blue-state cities where autonomous vehicle tech doesn’t yet have a “driver’s license.” Earlier this month, the company said it would begin testing in Boston, where city lawmakers pushed last year for an ordinance that would ban self-driving taxis from operating without a human behind the wheel. Waymo has said that it needs Massachusetts lawmakers to “legalize fully autonomous vehicles” before it can launch service in Boston.
Eventually, self-driving-vehicle developers hope that the US Congress will pass a law allowing the broader testing and operation of their tech across the US. On Tuesday, a House committee advanced a bill that would direct the federal government to create safety standards for autonomous vehicles, and prevent states from passing their own laws prohibiting the sale or use of the tech, or from requiring companies to submit information on crashes.
Waymo’s new DC pressure campaign echoes the ones launched by transportation disrupters, including ride-hailing giant Uber and bike- and scooter-share company Bird, nearly a decade ago. Like self-driving tech developers, those companies wanted to launch their new services in places where the rules didn’t align with their business ambitions. Ultimately, Uber and Lyft generally succeeded in getting laws passed in US statehouses allowing their services to operate on public roads—and preventing cities from creating their own laws.
Today, Waymo operates in six US metro areas—Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, and the San Francisco Bay Area—and plans to launch in more than 10 this year. Three other companies, including Nuro and Amazon-owned Zoox, have permits to test self-driving tech in Washington, DC.
