St. Paul City Council President Rebecca Noecker is pushing a new effort for the city to study driverless rideshare vehicles, like Waymo and Tesla's Cybercab, before the technology arrives on city streets.
The St. Paul City Council unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday directing the city's planning commission to study the potential impacts autonomous rideshares could have on safety, data-sharing, and worker protections.
"To dig into the data and not just take these companies' word for it," Noecker said. "To do our own independent analysis and then engage the variety of stakeholders who are going to be impacted—from transportation workers and experts to disability advocates and urban planners. There are many, many folks who need to be consulted about this."
Ahead of Wednesday's meeting, Noecker was joined at a press conference by city leaders and rideshare drivers advocating for proactive regulations.
"Autonomous vehicles have impacts on our urban environment, our transportation network, and public safety," Noecker said, adding that the technology could also affect labor. "We know that our rideshare drivers contribute half a billion dollars to our state economy."
Noecker told council members on Wednesday that the ordinance comes as neighboring Minneapolis navigates its own driverless rideshare legislation.
On Thursday morning the Minneapolis City Council failed to override Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey's veto of an ordinance requiring a safety driver in the front seat of a robotaxi. The council got just 7 of 9 required votes for the override.
"Requiring a human monitor in AV rideshare cancels out the benefits for riders who prefer a driverless vehicle for safety and reliability," Frey said. "You heard testifiers from the disability community share that traditional rideshare vehicles have canceled their rides due to the use of a service animal or wheelchair. You heard testimony regarding concern over sexual assault or other crimes being committed by rideshare drivers and passengers."
Ward 2 councilmember Robin Wonsley called Frey's veto a "win" for Google, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos and pledged that more efforts will be put into regulating autonomous vehicles in Minneapolis.
"We do still have thousands of working class families who are going to have conversations in the weeks or months about what they will do or how they will make ends meet if a bread winner loses their income to a driverless robotaxi," Wonsley said.
St. Paul joins Minneapolis in push for driverless rideshare vehicle regulations
St. Paul joins Minneapolis in push for driverless rideshare vehicle regulations
