D.C. Council kills robotaxi bill 3-3, labor concerns trump Waymo safety data

QuintinPope5 · x · 2026-11-15

• The D.C. Council's transportation committee voted down the Autonomous Vehicle Deployment Authorization Amendment Act of 2026 in a 3–3 vote, leaving no legal pathway for driverless taxis or delivery vehicles in the capital. One councilmember cited fears from "our friends in labor" about job losses.
• Waymo's analysis of 271M+ driverless miles found 95% fewer serious-injury/fatal crashes, 93% fewer pedestrian-injury crashes, and 86% fewer cyclist-injury crashes vs human drivers. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety similarly found 68% fewer police-reportable crashes per mile.
• Critics argue politicians are blocking life-saving tech to protect special interests.

Original post →

More from Embodied

• CoRL 2026 wraps up as General Chair signs off; next stop Paris — yukez · 2026-11-15
• Scoop: OpenAI is building factory test infrastructure for robot circuit boards — ryanmerket · 2026-11-15
• SpaceX Appears to Catch an Orbital Upper Stage Mid-Air — VraserX · 2026-11-15
• RAI Institute's RL bicycle robot nails table jumps, flips and wheelies — KyleMorgenstein · 2026-11-15
• Ex-Apple exec brings a full-size humanoid robot into the office break room — cixliv · 2026-11-15
• Turing winner Patterson: general AI models will do most jobs by end of next year — davidpattersonx · 2026-11-15

Embodied channel →