Autonomous vehicles (AVs), in development for years, have only recently become safe enough for mass adoption. Now, events like Uber’s new partnerships with AV companies Zoox and Rivian signal that it’s time for widespread use. But the inaugural fleets can’t deploy without political will.
The nascent industry’s struggles with the Washington, D.C. City Council, which is barring AV entry in the nation’s capital, suggests a bumpy road ahead. Misguided concerns, special-interest pressures, and bureaucratic proceduralism threaten to undermine the successful deployment of AVs.
Finally, a reason to check your email.
Sign up for our free newsletter today.
Waymo, the AV unit of Google, has been testing its fleet in Washington since 2024. But the vehicles are not yet operating fully autonomously. City council members claim that Waymo’s roadblock is largely procedural. They cite the ongoing absence of a report on AVs from the Washington, D.C. Department of Transportation (DDOT).
It seems hard to believe that the report will make a difference, given how district leaders talk about AVs. Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, a 2026 mayoral candidate, believes Waymo’s service is not safe enough for deployment, saying, “I don’t think our city is ready for Waymo at this moment.”
These nebulous safety fears aren’t tied to any meaningful metric or standard by which Waymo could operate in the district. Instead, they serve effectively to ban AV technology in perpetuity.
Such fears are part of the decade-long procedural chaos delaying Waymo’s deployment. In 2012, the city council adopted the Autonomous Vehicle Act, which mandated control, permitting, and registration requirements for AV operators. The council updated the legislation in 2020, with further mandates for vehicle testing, permitting, and operation.
Crucially, the update directed the DDOT to submit a report to the city council within one year of September 22, 2020. That report, yet to materialize, is five-and-a-half years overdue. Councilmember Charles Allen, who serves as chairman of the city council’s Committee on Transportation and Environment, has said that no further action on AVs will happen without it.
While the report was required by the Autonomous Vehicle Act, its absence doesn’t mean that AV operation can’t be implemented in Washington. The 2020 legislation simply required that AV operators receive permits from DDOT to operate and continue to report relevant safety information to the body. In 2024, the city council once again updated the law and required that no testing be performed without a permit and a person physically present in the car.
Two years later, AVs still aren’t running in D.C. That’s in spite of the recent surge in traffic fatalities, which Waymo could have partially averted. If Waymo AVs had been permitted in the district since the start of 2023, they would have prevented an estimated 11 road deaths, according to an estimate using data compiled by policy researcher Thomas Hochman. (The city has had 135 road deaths since January 1, 2023.)
Indeed, with over 20 million passenger-only rides to date, Waymo has a remarkable safety record. Across every metric measured to evaluate driver safety, its AVs have outperformed their human equivalent. A study comparing Waymo AVs to human-operated vehicles on identical roadways found that Waymo AVs were involved in fewer accidents and achieved a 96 percent reduction in “any-injury-reported” crashes. They were also involved in fewer collisions with cyclists and pedestrians.
Janeese Lewis George’s political alliance with anti-AV labor unions and activists should cast doubt on the sincerity of her safety warnings. In December 2025, she was endorsed by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689. Alongside its national chapter, the local union has lobbied against the use of AVs, citing safety issues. “George has been with us every step of the way,” ATU Local 689 President Raymond Jackson says.
While council members hide behind procedural thickets of their own making, a mayoral candidate argues against reality. Lewis George’s concern about safety appears to be self-serving. Don’t be fooled by it.
Photo Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images