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California DMV approves map increase in Waymo driverless operations

(www.dmv.ca.gov)
218 points NullHypothesist | 3 comments | 21 Nov 25 22:52 UTC | HN request time: 0.253s | source
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arjie ◴[22 Nov 25 00:07 UTC] No.46010639[source]▶
The effectiveness with which AVs have been able to test and spread despite local municipalities being fairly luddite about them does provide positive evidence for the idea that states are the right level of government for many of these decisions. If this had been entirely up to Bay Area municipalities it would have been infeasible, and this outcome and the lives consequently saved will be due to state-level decision-makers being able to make better decisions than local municipal decision-makers.

If the urban sprawl of the Bay Area were (correctly, in my opinion) represented as a single fused city-county like Tokyo, I think we would have better governance, but highly fragmented municipalities means we have a lot of free-rider vetos.

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jerlam ◴[22 Nov 25 00:30 UTC] No.46010804[source]▶
I don't see any reason that individual Bay Area cities cannot pass laws against Waymo operating there. Why they would do so is a different matter. I'm hopeful though.
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1. polishTar ◴[22 Nov 25 01:11 UTC] No.46011095[source]▶
Municipalities are generally preempted from regulating matters of statewide concern. In CA, the state decided to have the CA DMV regulate operational safety and the CPUC regulate the commercial service. Individual cities are prevented from enacting local laws that encroach upon state authority.
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2. jeffbee ◴[22 Nov 25 01:24 UTC] No.46011188[source]▶
The bar for "statewide concern" is also extremely low. It basically includes whatever the state government choose to pay attention to.
3. philistine ◴[22 Nov 25 03:42 UTC] No.46011897[source]▶
> Individual cities are prevented from enacting local laws that encroach upon state authority.

It's simpler than that; cities are wholly created and controlled by the State. California could one day decide to close all the cities and centralize and it would be 100% legal. States delegate their authority to cities.