The San Diego City Council voted 8-0 on Monday to approve a resolution urging the California Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom to hand local authorities control over autonomous vehicle deployment in their jurisdictions. The measure carries no force of law — robotaxi permitting in California sits with state agencies — but it signals a coordinated push by the state's second-largest city to slow an AV rollout that began on its streets only weeks ago.

Waymo, the Alphabet-owned operator, launched its robotaxi service to early-access customers earlier this month across roughly 40 square miles of central San Diego, excluding the airport. The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority holds jurisdiction over which ride-hailing services may pick up passengers there, and the resolution explicitly asks the authority to bar AVs from San Diego International. Amazon subsidiary Zoox has announced it will soon begin testing its purpose-built vehicles with human safety drivers, while residents have spotted Tesla's gold-colored Cybercabs on city streets, fueling expectations that Musk's company will enter the market.

Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, who chairs the city's Taxi Advisory Committee, framed the stakes bluntly. "San Diego should not be a testing ground where corporations introduce new technology onto our public streets without meaningful local input, accountability or consideration for the people who will be affected," he said.

"I am not sitting here asking San Diego to get off the road to innovation," said Councilmember Marni von Wilpert, who co-introduced the measure. "I am simply asking for San Diego to have a say in where that road is going." Councilmember Henry Foster was absent.

The regulatory fault line

The resolution exposes the structural reality of AV governance in California. The Department of Motor Vehicles issues testing and deployment permits and tracks collisions; the California Public Utilities Commission licenses companies transporting members of the public. Neither agency answers to city halls. The CPUC recently approved Waymo's expansion permit authorizing passenger pickups in San Diego, and the CPUC and DMV have granted Zoox and Tesla permission to test with a human behind the wheel.

Von Wilpert rejected the characterization of the vote as symbolic. "What we are asking this resolution is for our state representatives to change the law in Sacramento," she said before the vote. "They could easily change the law … which will then kick off a lobbying campaign to pressure them to change the law and let us have control."

Elo-Rivera went further, questioning whether current operations confer any permanence. "Things can always be rolled back," he said. "There's nothing saying that the operation on our streets today means that they get to operate here in perpetuity."

Operators push back

Waymo's state and local public policy manager, Adam Lane, phoned in during public comment and called the resolution "extraordinarily premature," noting the company had completed "thousands of safe trips" in its first week of San Diego operations. Spokesperson Ethan Teicher said in an email that the "ill-conceived motion could lead to the restriction (of) San Diegans' transportation choices at the airport, hurting those whose needs are not met by the status quo."

As of Monday evening, neither the airport authority nor Mayor Todd Gloria — who last November backed "innovative and promising technologies like Waymo's autonomous vehicle service" — had responded to the resolution's passage.

Labor opposition is organizing alongside the council action. "This is hurting us a lot; we are already struggling," said Mikaiil Hussein, president of United Taxi Workers of San Diego. Luis Arias, president of San Diego Drivers United, said: "Technology can bring progress but that progress should not come at the expense of workers, public safety, accessibility or local infrastructure."

The Metropolitan Transit System's board added institutional weight earlier this year, voting 12-1 on its own resolution against Waymo expansion. MTS CEO Sharon Cooney cited a December 2025 power outage in San Francisco in which driverless Waymo vehicles blocked intersections, raising concerns that a similar event in San Diego could obstruct streets or trolley tracks and disrupt transit service.

Waymo counters with its first-responder engagement record: 290 partnering agencies, including San Diego public safety personnel, with additional training scheduled through this year and next — new engagements with National City Fire and Coronado Fire, plus refresher sessions for San Diego Police, Harbor Police, the California Highway Patrol and San Diego Fire-Rescue.

Zoning, airports and Washington

Beyond airport access, the resolution demands "responsible autonomous vehicle operations" requirements within the city: compliance with local noise and nuisance laws, and siting of charging hubs and fleet facilities away from homes, schools, healthcare institutions and public safety facilities.

The council also endorsed federal legislation introduced last month by Rep. Kevin Mullin, a South San Francisco Democrat. The AV Emergency Response Coordination Act, HR 10033, would require companies to provide standardized emergency response protocols for first responders and establish a 24/7 hotline letting public officials reach AV operators directly during incidents.

Waymo's operating footprint continues to widen regardless — it now serves more than a dozen cities including new deployments in San Diego, Tampa and Denver, with testing in 18 other locales such as Tokyo and London. In San Diego, its service area runs from Pacific Beach south to Sunset Cliffs, southeast to Barrio Logan and northeast to Normal Heights. Zoox's toaster-shaped electric vehicles will soon map Little Italy, the Gaslamp Quarter, Old Town, University Heights, Mission Valley, Balboa Park, North Park and South Park ahead of any driverless deployment.

The practical test will come in Sacramento: whether lawmakers amend a state permitting regime that currently leaves cities like San Diego with resolutions instead of authority, even as Waymo waits on a city permit for airport runs.