If you live in Metairie and want to take a driverless taxi into New Orleans for a night on the town, there's some good news: leaders in both Jefferson and Orleans Parish are joining forces to set new rules for those vehicles.
"We are now working with Jefferson Parish as part of a group," New Orleans City Council President J. P. Morrell said during a council's Governmental Affairs Committee meeting on Thursday.
"We have a working group that includes folks from the city council, the mayor's office, and a variety of Jefferson Parish employees as well so we can achieve continuity between the two parishes wherever possible," council deputy chief of staff Ashley Spears added.
Morrell says working with the Jefferson Parish Government to derive these new rules makes perfect sense.
"Since most traffic from taxi cab-esque things is from the airport to everywhere else, having a unified framework across both parishes would be best suited for all involved," Morrell said.
Despite the collaboration between Orleans and Jefferson officials, Morrell says the issue won't be resolved quickly.
"This is not something that is on an expedited basis," Morrell said. "This will likely not be taken up by the full council until the last meeting of the year, which will be December 17."
