Legislators in Richmond are moving bills to allow driverless taxis in the Commonwealth. The effort has bipartisan support so far, but it’s not without its detractors.
Loudoun County Democratic Delegate David Reid has the effort in the House. He said 26 states have already legalized them which means, “we can pick and choose the best and the worst from other jurisdictions and we can see what it is they did well and learn from their mistakes.”
Fairfax area Democratic Senator Saddam Salim has it in the other chamber where it flew out of the Senate Transportation committee Thursday with bipartisan support - though not everyone was on board.
Prince William County Democratic Senator Danica Roem was worried about the safety record of autonomous vehicles and pointed to a 2024 study.
“Autonomous cars have a 5.25 times crash rate during dawn and dusk, and they are twice as likely when making turns, especially left turns,” Roem said.
Richmond Senator Michael Jones expressed similar concerns about pedestrian safety.
On Thursday, Waymo, one of the autonomous taxi services that already operates across the country, released a report on a recent accident which saw an elementary school student hit in a California suburb. Federal regulators are looking into the incident. Waymo said their vehicle stopped sooner than a human driver would have.
Matt Walsh is regional head of policy for Waymo He told the committee he wasn’t familiar with the study Roem mentioned and defended their record.
“We only deploy vehicles in markets we believe will be successful, where we have millions of miles of operation with safe rides and high customer satisfaction,” Walsh said.
The company says their vehicles have lower accident rates than human drivers.
Fellow NOVA Democratic Senator Kannan Srinivasan joined Roem as the only two 'nay' votes Thursday. He's on a state workgroup study autonomous vehicles and hinted he would wait for a report from that group, due in November, before supporting a measure.
Salim's effort had support from some interesting allies. Jeremey Grandstaff with the American Federation for the Blind in Virginia said taxi drivers often deny his rides because he has a guide dog. But autonomous cars don’t.
“It gives us the opportunity to have that full independence like what I had when I rode in a Waymo," Grandstaff said.
But opposition from the public was also present. Evee, a member of the DMV Drivers Alliance who refused to give their last name, spoke on behalf of ride share drivers and said it could hurt his industry.
"It's a shift that would displace thousands of working drivers," he warned.
Evee also called the state-wide licensing effort, without a local opt-out option, "a slow, blunt instrument" that could frustrate local efforts if something goes wrong.
But Delegate Reid said part of the problem is the growth of the tech in other areas like neighboring Washington, DC and Maryland. He said it would be a mistake to force autonomous vehicles to stop at the Virginia line.
As for driver experience, Sarah Graham Taylor, a lobbyist at the General Assembly, said she rode in a Waymo in Arizona when she got the chance.
"It was intense," she said, dramatically. "You're watching the road; you're watching other drivers while they're looking at you without a driver."
"It's a lot of emotions," Taylor added. "Very cool, very stressful."
An Annandale native, she also wondered if Virginia's older roadways, more complicated than newer transportation networks like those out west, could be too much for the autonomous systems.
"I'm excited to see the GA take a look at it," she said.
