Minneapolis council members push ordinance to regulate robotaxis, protect driver jobs

Minneapolis City Council Member Robin Wonsley, who represents Ward 2 and serves as the council’s minority leader, joined fellow council members, labor leaders and rideshare drivers Tuesday to introduce an ordinance aimed at regulating commercial autonomous vehicles before companies like Waymo begin operating them in the city.

The ordinance, called Workers Drive Minneapolis, would require companies to obtain a city license before operating a commercial autonomous vehicle, mandate a human safety monitor in the driver’s seat who holds a Minnesota driver’s license and is paid at least the municipal minimum wage, and prohibit companies from operating the vehicles remotely. If passed, the ordinance would take effect in October 2027.

Wonsley, the ordinance’s lead author, said Waymo has already begun mapping and testing autonomous vehicles in Minneapolis with plans to launch commercial rides in the near future. She said the Minnesota Legislature considered statewide regulations on commercial autonomous vehicles during its most recent session but did not pass any, leaving what she described as a regulatory gap the city needs to fill in the meantime.

Adam Lane, Waymo’s state and local public policy manager, said in a statement that the proposed ordinance amounts to “a de facto ban on autonomous vehicles.” He said nearly 500 Minnesotans died in crashes in 2024, and pointed to persistent safety concerns among women and people with disabilities, saying current transportation options aren’t enough. Lane said Minnesota chapters of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Epilepsy Foundation, the National Federation of the Blind, the American Council for the Blind, the Blinded Veterans Association and other groups support bringing Waymo to Minneapolis to address those gaps, and said the company remains committed to working with city officials on a path forward.

A Waymo spokesperson said the company has not yet engaged directly with Wonsley on the proposal but remains open to working with the city on road safety and mobility access. The spokesperson pointed to a settlement the Minnesota Department of Human Rights reached with Lyft earlier this year over discrimination against a blind rider who travels with a service dog, and said Waymo has partnered with accessibility groups for more than a decade, including work recognized as a semifinalist in a U.S. Department of Transportation program under the Biden administration.

The company cited its own survey finding 58% of women say its service has improved their sense of personal safety and mobility. Waymo said it operates in 15 major U.S. cities, providing more than 500,000 fully autonomous rides a week, and pointed to company data showing lower crash rates than human drivers over 220 million miles of operation, including 94% fewer crashes causing serious or fatal injury and 93% fewer injury crashes involving pedestrians.

The company said its vehicles require ongoing service by staff at maintenance centers and that it has invested in jobs such as vehicle technicians and facilities staff in cities where it operates, citing plans for hundreds of such positions in Washington, D.C., and more than 70 new jobs with a partner in Nashville, many of them going to former Lyft drivers. On the question of driver jobs, the company said it is not aware of evidence of a significant impact on for-hire drivers in cities where it operates, and noted that thousands of people still drive for a living in Phoenix, where it has operated for six years.

Wonsley said the ordinance is not a ban on autonomous vehicles and is not intended to replace the need for statewide regulation, which she said the ordinance’s authors support. She said the city council plans to stay in contact with state lawmakers and city staff about potential amendments before the ordinance would take effect.

Wonsley and other speakers said roughly 10,000 rideshare driver jobs in the metro area are at risk if commercial autonomous vehicles begin operating without protections in place, and that 30,000 to 40,000 people depend on that income when family members are included. She said many of the city’s rideshare drivers are immigrants who drive full time as their primary source of income. Wonsley’s office said the 10,000 figure comes from a Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry report published in March 2024.

Co-authors and supporters

Council Vice President Jamal Osman, one of the ordinance’s co-authors, said the majority of the city’s rideshare drivers are immigrants working full time, and argued the city has a responsibility to protect those jobs as autonomous vehicles enter the market. Council members Jason Chavez and Aurin Chowdhury have also signed on as co-authors, according to Wonsley. 

Eid Ali, president of the Minnesota Uber Lyft Drivers Association, said the group has worked with city and state leaders for several years, including a past push that resulted in a state minimum wage law for rideshare drivers. He said the association will work closely with city leaders to support the ordinance.

Said Mohamed, an Uber and Lyft driver and member of the SEIU Driver Organizing Committee, said autonomous vehicles would reduce the number of trips available to drivers and eliminate the ability of a human driver to respond to a passenger emergency.

Ricky Holmgren, a Northeast Minneapolis resident who spoke in support of the ordinance, connected the issue to recent immigration enforcement activity in the city, saying rideshare drivers continued working despite the risk of encountering immigration officers.

What happens next

Wonsley said she expects to have conversations with other council members in the coming days with the goal of building unanimous support for the ordinance. She said the requirement applies only to commercial autonomous vehicles and does not affect personally owned autonomous or driverless vehicles. For more general information, visit https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/Download/FileV2/55102/Autonomous-Vehicle-Regulations-Workers-Drive-Minneapolis-FAQ-Sheet.pdf.

Jasmine McBride welcomes reader responses at jmcbride@spokesman-recorder.com.