California law fines robotaxi operators for blocking first responders

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed Senate Bill 1246, a law that sets new accountability rules for autonomous-vehicle (AV) companies when their robotaxis break down, crash, or get in the way of emergency responders. Companies such as Tesla, Waymo, and Zoox will have to provide local, on-the-ground support to first responders when their vehicles cause problems, and could face fines if a robotaxi blocks police or firefighters for more than 30 minutes.

The bill follows a string of high-profile incidents in California in which robotaxis broke down and disrupted traffic, drove into crime scenes, or impeded first responders. The bulk of those incidents involved Waymo, the largest robotaxi operator in the US, which runs about 4,000 autonomous vehicles nationwide, including about 1,200 in the San Francisco Bay Area. A TechCrunch investigation earlier this year found a number of cases in which Waymo relied on first responders to manually drive its vehicles when they ran into trouble. Those incidents prompted state and federal lawmakers to call for stricter rules, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the US auto-safety regulator, sent AV developers a letter demanding they come up with solutions.

Under the new law, AV developers can only employ remote drivers who are based in the United States and hold a US driver’s license — aimed at the broader, loosely defined practice of “remote operations.” Tesla is the only company that has publicly said it uses remote operators who can take direct control of its robotaxis; Waymo and Zoox describe their approach instead as “remote assistance,” in which the self-driving system stays in control while a human employee offers guidance or sends software commands. Waymo’s remote-assistance staff include workers in the Philippines, with command centers in Arizona and Michigan; Zoox says its remote-operations teams are US-based.

The law also requires AV companies to notify cities and other local jurisdictions about the location and status of their vehicles during system-wide failures, and to provide “local incident technicians” who can assist with AV accidents and obstructions. “California has embraced autonomous vehicles, but we cannot embrace innovation at the expense of public safety,” said state Senator Dave Cortese, who introduced the bill. Waymo and Zoox have both said they will comply with the new requirements. The law takes effect in July 2028; the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which regulates AVs in the state, will set guidelines on specifics such as required response times.

Why it matters

California remains the proving ground for US robotaxi deployment, so new fines and operating requirements there could shape how other states regulate AV safety as the industry scales toward 2028.