Minnesota legislators debate self-driving car laws

To legally get behind the wheel in Minnesota, drivers need a license and familiarity with the rules of the road.

But what goes when a vehicle drives on its own without a human behind the wheel? What happens if it crashes, or breaks the law, or if there’s a snowstorm? That’s what Minnesota lawmakers are grappling with as self-driving cars hit the streets in Minneapolis without much state regulation on the books.

Members of both parties agree legislation is needed. However, serious discussion and political division surrounds matters of safety, accessibility, weather, local regulatory authority and how rideshare drivers might be impacted.

Corbb O’Connor, the president of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota, said autonomous vehicles can benefit disabled people. The National Federation of the Blind has given feedback to Waymo to make their vehicles more accessible.

“A couple of years ago in San Francisco, I wanted to try a legendary sandwich, so I used Waymo with my iPhone’s built-in accessibility features to find the car and ride across the city. No driver, no guide dog discrimination and no discussion. Just dinner,” O’Connor said at a Minnesota Senate Transportation Committee hearing Wednesday.

O’Connor said driverless cars take driver bias out of the equation. Just this month, the rideshare company Lyft settled with a blind student in Minnesota who claimed drivers canceled rides on her when they realized she had a guide dog.

“We see this as an urgent issue because of that documented discrimination against passengers with disabilities, especially those using guide dogs,” O’Connor said.

Robert Wudlick, a member of the Minnesota Council on Disability, said he also wants to encourage autonomous vehicle companies to expand to Minnesota. However, Wudlick said accessibility requirements, like including wheelchair-accessible vans in each vehicle fleet, should be written into law. 

“One thing I’ve learned is that accessibility in our community does not come voluntarily,” he told state senators.

Accessibility is just one of many issues being discussed by lawmakers. On one end of the spectrum, some lawmakers want to prioritize making Minnesota attractive to autonomous vehicle companies.

“We cannot stop progress,” said Sen. Carla Nelson, R-Rochester. “But I think we should be drivers of the change that’s coming, and do so in a thoughtful way.”

Proposed legislation backed by Waymo would explicitly allow self-driving cars and prevent local governments from regulating them.

Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, said while he’s willing to compromise on other issues, he will insist on preserving local authority.

“We have seen companies use their size, scale and corporate power to run roughshod over local authority, limiting the ability of cities to manage their own streets, their own right of way and public infrastructure in the public’s interest,” Dibble said this week.

On the other end of that spectrum, a labor-backed DFL bill would ban autonomous vehicles in Minnesota until the potential impacts to the rideshare workforce, accessibility, safety and infrastructure are studied. Even then, the bill would require human operators in the vehicles as a safety backup.

Bill sponsor Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley, rattled off several high-profile examples of Waymo self-driving cars acting inappropriately and unsafely in other states. Maye Quade described one instance when a Waymo car briefly blocked an ambulance from responding to a mass shooting in Texas and an incident when a Waymo car drove on light rail tracks in Arizona, forcing the passenger to exit the vehicle before a train approached.

“We have a responsibility to Minnesotans to ensure that if autonomous vehicles eventually do operate in our state — and I am not opposed to that — they do so under rules informed by independent research, public input and careful consideration of the impacts,” Maye Quade said.

David Stiggers, a transit union leader and longtime bus driver, supports Maye Quade’s bill.

“We just had 15 inches of snow. Can an autonomous vehicle really greet you at the front door and help you through the snow-covered sidewalk to the vehicle safely?” Stiggers said. “I think not. People do that. Minnesotans do that.”

Sen. John Jasinski, R-Faribault, said requiring drivers in driverless vehicles “just sounds crazy to me.”

Jaskinski said that’s tantamount to legalizing cell phones but requiring them to have cords. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

Waymo started testing its fleet — with human drivers for now — in Minneapolis. The company hired four lobbyists in Minnesota last year, and its representatives have been testifying at the Capitol.

Republicans and Democrats agree there should be no city buses, school buses or semi trucks operating without a driver any time soon.

“Regardless of what the legislature decides to do with taxi cabs, I think we can draw a line at commercial vehicles and make sure we have human drivers in our trucks and buses,” said Sen. Jennifer McEwen, DFL-Duluth, who sponsors a bipartisan bill that would ban large commercial driverless vehicles until 2033.

Lawmakers have until May 18 to try to get autonomous vehicle bills through the divided Legislature.