Newsom Signs California AV Law With Fines for Blocking First Responders

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1246 into law, imposing new requirements on autonomous vehicle operators whose robotaxis interfere with first responders. The law allows companies to be fined if a robotaxi blocks police or firefighters for more than 30 minutes during an emergency.

Under the law, AV companies must provide local, on-the-ground support to first responders when their robotaxis cause problems. They must also supply local incident technicians to assist with accidents and obstructions.

The law requires AV developers to employ remote drivers only if they are based in the United States and hold a U.S. driver's license. Companies must also notify local jurisdictions about vehicle location and status during system-wide failures.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles will set guidelines on aspects of the law, including required response times. The law goes into effect in July 2028.

State Senator Dave Cortese introduced the bill. Earlier this year, a TechCrunch investigation identified incidents in which Waymo relied on first responders to manually drive its vehicles. Waymo is the largest robotaxi operator in the U.S., with about 4,000 autonomous vehicles in its commercial fleet, about 1,200 of them in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has sent a letter to AV developers demanding solutions to robotaxi interference with first responders. Waymo has a global network of remote assistance staff, including in the Philippines, and operates command centers in Arizona and Michigan. Zoox's remote operations teams are based in the United States.