A conflict over allowing driverless taxis more access to Washington streets represents an adjacent and pivotal front for the labor unions that have spent the last decade advocating for employee status and organizing rights for rideshare drivers.
Alphabet Inc. subsidiary Waymo and the driverless car industry are pushing for the DC Council to pass legislation (B26-0684) before year’s end that would let robotaxi services launch full commercial operations in the District of Columbia. It’s a narrow window before Mayor Muriel Bowser’s term ends and she’s replaced in 2027 by bill opponent Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, a fellow Democrat. Labor advocates, including the App Drivers Union, also oppose the bill.
Regulatory fights over driverless taxis also cropping up in places like New York City and Minneapolis are slices of the larger battle over artificial intelligence technologies poised to automate jobs across industries. Unlike unions’ fights with rideshare companies over employment status, the expansion of robotaxis poses an existential threat to driver jobs in places like the nation’s capital.
“This would devastate thousands and thousands of jobs and it would signal not just to Waymo and to AVs, but that Washington, DC, is for sale and can be bought by Silicon Valley,” said Autumn Weintraub, executive director of the App Drivers Union, which is seeking to organize rideshare-app drivers nationwide. “There is no need to to rush into this.”
Tesla Inc. and Waymo are leading the push to expand autonomous vehicle service into Washington, as Lyft Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. advocate for a framework allowing hybrid networks of driverless and human-driven vehicles.
“We see this as a huge moment for the technology,” said Hope Ledford, director of civic innovation policy at the tech advocacy group Chamber of Progress. Its members include Waymo, Uber, and Lyft.
Ledford noted Bowser, whose office declined to comment, has shown past support for AVs.
The Washington bill would create a driver displacement fund to pay for retraining, plus require robotaxi operators to ensure disabled rider accessibility and service in all parts of DC. Critics say it doesn’t go far enough and want the council to further consider permitting Waymo to operate.
Waymo, meanwhile, has said it plans to employ hundreds of DC residents in vehicle maintenance and facilities management jobs.
“The District has the opportunity to finally implement the technology, helping to deliver safer roads, hundreds of new, high-quality jobs, and a more connected city,” Waymo spokesperson Dana Gallagher said in an email. “We are ready to partner with the District Council to get this right.”
Green-Lighting Fight
Driverless taxi services have largely gotten the green light in Republican-led states including Florida and Texas as well as Democratic-led cities such as Denver, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
But labor opposition and safety concerns have hampered expansion. The Service Employees International Union, a key player in getting ride-share driver unions established in California and Massachusetts, is lobbying against the DC bill.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D), who like Lewis George identifies himself as a Democratic socialist, paused Waymo’s testing permit in March and sided with unions seeking to protect driver jobs.
Statewide bills proposing to allow robotaxi service in Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia all stalled this year. But a Minneapolis City Council bill to require human safety supervisors in all robotaxis was vetoed by Mayor Jacob Frey (D).
The industry promises investment in maintenance and charging stations in Washington as well as creation of a smaller number of technician jobs offering better pay and benefits than ride-share driving.
Area unions criticizing the measure include app drivers affiliates — SEIU Local 32BJ and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers — the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
“The so-called ‘guardrails’ in this bill fail to protect workers,” Bill Davis, Teamsters Local 639 president, said in response to a July DC council hearing.
The Teamsters and SEIU have also mobilized to oppose Waymo’s presence in California and Minnesota. The unions are building on work helping improve app-based drivers’ pay and job protections, although efforts for their reclassification from independent contractors to employees have fallen short.
The drivers generally can’t unionize without employee status, but hundreds of thousands have organized or are in the process of doing so after getting special dispensation through new laws unions fought for in Massachusetts, Illinois, and California.
Unions leading the charge against the Washington bill have expressed concern Waymo would spread to other East Coast cities and more jobs would be lost.
“If DC is saying this is OK, then where does it go from here?” Weintraub asked.
Broader Battle
Labor leaders have argued allowing AV taxi services would inspire more transit automation.
“We’re worried that it could open the door to allow AV technology to come in and replace humans behind the wheel for public transit buses, for school buses, for cargo — especially hazardous cargo or freight,” said Benjamin Lynn, ATU Local 689 spokesperson.
As AI technologies advance and more businesses adopt them, predictions about eliminated job numbers vary. A 2025 report from Democrats on the US Senate’s labor committee predicted AI could put up to 100 million Americans out of work within 10 years. Other studies, including one from the World Economic Forum, have estimated AI will create more jobs than it eliminates.
Unions have fought to prevent or slow job losses across sectors. The Teamsters have pushed state legislation to protect truck drivers from automation, but with limited success. Governors in California and Colorado each vetoed bills requiring human drivers in automated 18-wheelers.
“Public acceptance will be gradual over time, and thus the deployment of AVs will also follow that,” said Ledford.
The ATU said it will continue to engage with DC councilmembers on health and safety provisions.
“We’re not under illusion that the technology will never show up,” Lynn said. “We just don’t feel the technology today is ready and is as proven safe as what these tech companies claim.”