by Thanks to Waymo, driverless cars are becoming a common sight in places like San Francisco and Phoenix. The business appears to be preparing to introduce its fleet of self-driving cars to Greater Boston soon after deploying manned vehicles to map the city’s streets this year. However, there are still a lot of important obstacles to overcome, and many local leaders exhibit a strong sense of skepticism, if not downright animosity.
When the Boston City Council held a hearing on the potential for autonomous vehicles (AVs) to operate in the city on Thursday, that mistrust was evident.
Wu administration officials emphasized that they still had numerous concerns about whether Boston is the suitable place for AV deployment, even as Waymo executives praised the company’s safety record and other possible advantages. This reluctance was shared by councilors, and labor leaders and the drivers who would be replaced expressed their serious worries. Following the hearing, some councilors participated in an anti-AV demonstration outside City Hall alongside union members.
Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, says it wants to have a thorough discussion with local officials and stakeholders and has no firm plans for a commercial launch in Boston.The business may have a difficult time in Massachusetts, where legislation establishing a regulatory framework for AVs is still waiting on Beacon Hill. Officials in Boston seem prepared to slow-roll the deployment of AVs, even if some versions of those measures are passed.
An ordinance proposed Thursday by Councilors Henry Santana and Erin Murphy would establish an advisory committee to evaluate the potential effects of autonomous vehicles (AVs) on local companies, traffic, public safety, and many other areas. Before the corporation could launch in Boston, the measure would also initiate a comprehensive public assessment on the possible disruptions caused by AVs.
According to Santana, the rule is specifically designed to prevent robotaxis from taking over local jobs.
According to him, many of these drivers are our most vulnerable citizens, immigrants, and those who are barely making ends meet.
The Wu administration s perspective
In her testimony at the meeting on Thursday, Streets Chief Jascha Franklin-Hodge stated that the installation of AVs may seriously disturb Boston life. He stated that the Wu administration supports a methodical approach that considers all potential outcomes of AV deployment.
He stated that we cannot be reactionary because this is too significant and significant.
Franklin-Hodge did admit that a growing amount of evidence seems to indicate that AVs are less likely to be involved in collisions that cause injuries. However, he emphasized that crash rates are only one aspect of safety.
Do autonomous vehicles push other drivers into dangerous situations? Are first responders hampered by AVs? How do they move across areas under construction? Franklin-Hodge stated that the government intends to investigate all of these issues.
One significant concern is congestion. According to Franklin-Hodge, he has met with San Francisco officials who estimate that, compared to miles where the AV is completely empty, only roughly 40% of the miles driven by Waymo vehicles in the city were productive passenger miles. He stated that businesses like Waymo do not disclose enough internal data with the cities they work with, which is why this number is merely an estimate. He promoted robust information exchange in the future.
The fact that Boston’s streets differ from those of many other locations where Waymo is now in use is another important consideration. The city features many small, one-way streets, no conventional grid arrangement, and a high volume of bicycle and pedestrian traffic. Furthermore, Boston’s roads can become much more dangerous during the winter months.
According to Franklin-Hodge, Waymo hasn’t yet shown that its AVs can navigate a city like Boston.
“We will quickly find them unwelcome on the streets of Boston if every Waymo drives like a confused out-of-state tourist,” he warned.
“The administration is interested in helping to shape the regulatory environment of AVs in Massachusetts, but it has not taken an official stance on the AV bills in the State House,” Franklin-Hodge said. According to him, there is undoubtedly a demand for these cars in Boston, but the businesses have not yet gained the public’s trust, and the administration wants them to show that they are willing to work with local governments more effectively.
Waymo s position
Waymo’s regional head of state and local policy, Matthew Walsh, gave a testimony in City Hall on Thursday. He stated that the business is in a phase of expansion. It provides AV services in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, and Atlanta. In 2026, Waymo plans to expand to Miami and Washington, D.C. Boston is one of over ten other cities in the nation that have been mapped by manual drivers.
According to Walsh, Waymo AVs have an outstanding safety record. Compared to human drivers, they are engaged in almost five times as infrequent crashes that result in injuries. According to Walsh, Waymos reduces crashes where airbags are deployed by 79% and crashes with catastrophic injuries by 88%.
He claims that Waymo works on roads that are comparable to those in Boston and doesn’t think that Boston’s streets are different enough to make it impossible to deploy AVs safely here.
Waymo’s head of product management, David Margines, admitted that the business has not thoroughly tested its autonomous vehicles for use in situations where there is standing snow. However, in order to prepare for growth to locations like Boston, they are now testing in snowy situations. According to him, Waymo AVs are equipped with a wide variety of cameras and sensors that are especially made to withstand inclement weather.
Walsh and Margines addressed concerns regarding the effect on first responders by highlighting the company’s internal ambassador program, which consists of former first responders who assist in teaching their peers how to communicate with AVs. According to them, Waymo cars are made to detect emergency sirens from a great distance and steer clear of first responders.
In response to questions about whether AVs would replace human drivers, Walsh maintained that the business might add new kinds of jobs over the course of the next ten years. Additionally, he played down concerns about positions being snatched all at once.
He added it is simply untrue to say that Waymo’s arrival in Boston will cause people to lose their employment overnight.
Walsh and Margines didn’t seem to be very popular with the City Council members throughout their testimony. Officials were offended by some of their selected slang, such as frequent allusions to the Waymo driver.
Drivers are human. Councilor Sharon Durkan remarked, “You’re comparing a car to a driver.” This is really unnerving, and I find it really disturbing.
Organized labor pushback
In testimony during the hearing and during the subsequent rally, union leaders and workers who make a living behind the wheel stressed the need for skilled drivers instead of AVs.
Voters in Massachusetts approved a ballot proposal last year that gave rideshare drivers the right to form a union. With over 70,000 members, the new App Drivers Union is leading the charge against Waymo’s entrance into Boston.
We are discussing a direct impact on employment and the local economy. Drivers who are already overburdened will incur further debt. They will have to compete with machines and put in more hours for fewer trips. According to Autumn Weintraub, executive director of the App Drivers Union, they risk losing their jobs due to an empty seat.
Jack Kenslea, political director at United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1445, spoke about the expertise drivers in that union have that cannot be replaced by AVs. He conceded that many jobs won t disappear overnight but said that longterm attrition could slowly erode jobs and weaken protections for workers.
Kenslea pushed back on arguments about AVs being a cost-saving measure for customers.
What that really means is that the money is taken out of the pockets of the hardworking drivers and community members who are performing these jobs and putting it into the pockets of Google and Waymo executives who are just going to laugh all the way to the bank, he said.
Steve South, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 25, said that companies like Waymo are simply focused on replacing workers in order to boost profits, recklessly bringing AV technology to more and more places.
Waymo and other companies that are putting driverless cars and trucks on our roads like to describe themselves as people who are working towards a utopian future. Nothing could be further from the truth. This company is steamrolling into cities throughout our country, without concern for the policymakers, workers, or residents who live there, he said.
Ross Cristantiello, a general assignment news reporter for Boston.com since 2022, covers local politics, crime, the environment, and more.
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