Uber lobbies against D.C. autonomous vehicle bill to block Waymo

A proposed bill in Washington, D.C. would allow autonomous vehicles to operate commercially in the city, and it has put Uber in direct opposition with its business partner Waymo. According to public records and interviews, Uber argues the bill — introduced by Councilmember Charles Allen in May — would displace human drivers and hand Waymo a monopoly. The two companies are set to pitch their positions during a day-long hearing on Monday, though many parties say the bill’s passage is not imminent.

The bill would authorize the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), the district’s transportation regulator, to issue permits for driverless testing and deployment to companies that meet certain requirements:

• a minimum of $5 million in liability insurance
• crash-data reporting within either 8 hours or 72 hours, depending on whether the vehicle is part of a commercial fleet or privately owned
• a $0.15 per mile tax on robotaxi operators, with 50% of that revenue going toward public transit

Uber is pushing for what it calls a hybrid model — a regulatory framework that would require robotaxis to operate on networks that also employ human drivers, letting consumers on the Uber app choose between an autonomous vehicle and a human driver. Javi Correoso, who leads U.S. policy and federal affairs for Uber, has cited data showing one autonomous vehicle displaces roughly four human drivers, arguing the D.C. bill would push drivers out altogether. Waymo, which provides more than 500,000 rides each week across 11 cities, backs the bill as written. Uber, meanwhile, is actively investing in and partnering with more than 30 autonomous vehicle technology companies globally even as it lobbies for the hybrid framework in D.C. Greg Rogers, founder and executive director of The Innovation Majority, a nonprofit mobility and tech think tank, called Uber’s proposal an attempt at “regulatory capture.”

The fight highlights growing tension in the “frenemy” relationship between Uber and Waymo, which have partnered in cities like Austin and Atlanta while carrying a history of legal disputes. In 2017, Waymo sued Uber over allegations of trade secret theft, accusing Uber of using trade secrets downloaded by former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski. More recently, an Uber executive publicly criticized the unsafe and “scary” behavior of a Waymo robotaxi, a sign of how publicly the once-quiet rivalry has resurfaced ahead of Monday’s hearing.

Why it matters

The lobbying battle in Washington, D.C. serves as a critical test case for Uber’s hybrid network strategy, putting it in direct regulatory opposition with its autonomous vehicle partner Waymo and highlighting a broader national debate over the future of human drivers versus robotaxis.