Autonomous vehicle expansion faces regulatory speed bumps

• Minneapolis wants to require a paid human ‘safety monitor’ in every driverless car, which Waymo calls a de facto ban.

September 2026 — In the race to put more robotaxis on America’s streets, autonomous vehicle expansion is outrunning the regulatory system built to govern it.

The drive to scale Waymo operates about 4,000 driverless vehicles across 15 test cities, up from 700 in early 2025.

U.S. News rates the 2026 Ford F-150 with BlueCruise as the top “almost self-driving” vehicle on the market today.

Waymo’s state and local public policy manager, Adam Lane, called the measure a “de facto ban on autonomous vehicles.”