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👋 Cuneyt here. There’s a split-screen across the country: Eleven cities have robotaxis — they may not be flying cars, but SF and Atlanta seem far in the future compared to us.
D.C. is now debating an ambitious bill to regulate robotaxis, authored by Council member Charles Allen (and coming after a torturously long wait — we’re still waiting — for DDOT’s infamous robotaxi report).
In this week’s podcast, I spoke to Matt Walsh, who is the east region head for Waymo’s policy shop, and who submitted to hours of testimony last week at the D.C. Council.
We talked about proposed caps on robotaxis, Waymo’s response to labor’s accusations that it’s trying to “steamroll” D.C., and whether the company can make peace with a Janeese Lewis George administration.
You can find the cliffnotes edition in my Axios D.C. summary of our convo, where I pointed out some people are some squeamish about getting in a driverless car:
"Take the leap," says Walsh, who recalls "white-knuckling the door handle" the first time he got in one, too. "After that first 30 to 45 seconds, it became so normal to me."
And if you watch on YouTube: Please like the video and subscribe to our channel — it really helps us grow.
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