‘Your City Could Be Better’: Who Controls Austin’s Autonomous Vehicles?

Why are there so many Waymos in Austin? As it turns out, Texas law governing autonomous vehicles (AVs) supersedes city authority and prevents any local government from regulating AVs, creating areas that have become increasingly attractive to AV companies. Miles Bloxson joins Your City Could Better to talk about if this loose regulation is good for Texas, particularly its dense capital city, whether local benefit is a priority for manufacturers at all, and how other U.S. cities can learn from Austin if a similar influx hits their streets.

Mentioned on the show:

• City Cast Austin’s episode on AV regulation: https://austin.citycast.fm/podcasts/are-texas-schools-using-ai-to-ban-books-plus-driverless-cars-in-austin-and-new-michelin-stars 
• Waymo blocking emergency response to Austin shooting: https://www.axios.com/local/austin/2026/03/02/waymo-vehicle-blocks-ems-austin-mass-shooting 
• The city of Austin’s public dashboard tracking incidents involving AVs: https://austin.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/dbd59d9b20634de1afad32a8267b739b#

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