Wary about Waymo: Back in May, autonomous taxi company Waymo brought its LIDAR and camera-equipped cars to the streets of Boston to map out the city (with human drivers behind the wheel). Waymo’s driverless vehicles are already on the road in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin and Atlanta, and the company may hope to add Boston to its list in the future. But before that could happen, the tech would need a green light from city officials and the State House — the former of whom were skeptical during a testimony last week before Boston City Council.
- We’ve got Way-mo problems already: Boston’s streets are shared by cars, bikes, mopeds, pedestrians and more. Boston City Councillor Ed Flynn doesn’t think it’s appropriate to add self-driving cars to the already “chaotic” dynamic. “Boston is one of the oldest major cities in the country, with narrow one-way streets, alleys and the lack of a traditional grid system, especially in downtown,” Flynn said. “In winter, we have snow banks, icy roads. We also have issues with double parked cars.” (As of now, Waymo cars have not yet been validated “for fully driverless operations in snow,” according to the company.) Boston’s Chief of Streets Jascha Franklin-Hodge also questioned the cars’ safety, saying even though there’s evidence suggesting autonomous vehicles are safer on average, that research doesn’t quite apply here because of the complexity of our infrastructure.
- The human impact: According to the Greater Boston Labor Council, 70,000 app-based drivers and tens of thousands of Teamster truck transport and delivery drivers could be displaced if the technology became widespread. “ My main concern with this technology in Boston — and honestly across the country — is the loss of jobs,” said City Councillor Enrique Pepén, who rode in an autonomous Waymo while in San Francisco. Matt Walsh, Waymo’s regional head of state and local public policy, said the tech isn’t meant to replace all kinds of drivers, but add another transportation option to a large network people can choose from.
Read the full article: https://www.wbur.org/news/2025/07/28/waymo-boston-city-council-self-driving-regulations-newsletter
Published: Aug 5, 2025
