Regulations pave the way for driverless taxis, at least in St. Louis City and County St. Louis Metropolitan Taxicab Commission sets rules for autonomous vehicles. ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - The St. Louis Metropolitan Taxicab Commission approves regulations for driverless taxis, clearing a path for autonomous vehicle services to operate locally. It comes after a similar statewide legislative push failed earlier this year. The St. Louis Metropolitan Taxicab Commission passed the regulations in late May and published them in its vehicle-for-hire code updated June 11. The commission sets regulations and oversees licensing for taxi companies and drivers in St. Louis city and county. Waymo has been manually testing and mapping St. Louis streets since December, with a driver behind the wheel. The company announced late last year it was eyeing St. Louis as one of its next destinations. Waymo supported a bill in Jefferson City earlier this year, but it did not pass during the legislative session. After the bill failed, Waymo said it would remain in manual testing in St. Louis for the foreseeable future. Ronald Klein, executive director of the Metropolitan Taxicab Commission, said the commission had been working on autonomous vehicle regulations for about a year in anticipation of interest from companies like Waymo — modeling them after cities where autonomous vehicles already operate. “They can see the regulations, and they can see, basically, yeah, we look like Nashville, or we look like someplace else, you know, that they operate,” said Klein. “Right now, Waymo is about the only player in town,” Klein said. “But there will be other ones shortly.” Klein said the regulations cover insurance, licensing and consumer-facing requirements. He noted that, unlike traditional taxis — where both the vehicle and the driver are licensed — autonomous vehicles would require only the vehicle