Charles Allen's plan to bring driverless taxis to D.C. may be dead before it reaches the full Council.

Three of the five members on Allen's transportation committee have signaled they would vote against his revised autonomous vehicle (AV) bill, the Washington Sun reported. Allen, who chairs the Committee on Transportation and the Environment, said a bill that fails in committee is dead for the year. He chairs the panel through Jan. 2 and said there is no guarantee who will lead it after that.

Allen released the revised legislation Tuesday, Nov. 10, aiming to clear the way for Waymo and other driverless ride-hailing services to eventually carry paying passengers in the District, WUSA9 reported.

"I don't want D.C. to be the first, but I also don't want us to be the last," Allen said, according to WUSA9.

What the bill would do

The legislation caps each AV company at 200 vehicles, with no more than 800 operating citywide. Companies would pay a 7.5-cent tax on every mile their vehicles travel, half the rate in an earlier draft, according to the Hill Rag.

After implementation costs, half the tax revenue would support public transit, the Hill Rag reported. For the first three years, 25 percent would fund training for drivers displaced by AVs and 25 percent would go to accessibility. After three years, the workforce share would end and accessibility would receive half.

The bill would grant Uber and Lyft drivers the right to organize and bargain collectively, according to WUSA9. The same rights would extend to workers at AV maintenance facilities.

Riders would not hail a driverless car right away. Companies would first need to log 75,000 miles without a driver or passengers over at least 90 days, according to WUSA9. Allen said the earliest commercial service could begin is October 2027, with early 2028 more realistic.

Operators would have to provide equitable service across all eight wards and begin adding wheelchair-accessible vehicles by Jan. 1, 2032, or within 18 months after the District issues notice that an accessible AV has entered commercial service elsewhere in the U.S., whichever comes first, 7News reported. At least 20 percent of each fleet must be accessible by 2034.

Allen framed the bill as a road safety measure. He said the District has recorded 36 traffic deaths so far this year, 44 percent more than the 25 recorded in all of last year, according to WUSA9.

Opposition on the committee

Allen needs three votes on his five-member committee. Councilmember Zachary Parker, Councilmember Elissa Silverman and Mayor-elect Janeese Lewis George have all indicated opposition, the Washington Sun reported. Councilmember Christina Henderson told the Sun she would vote to support the bill.

Lewis George said Friday, Nov. 6, on WAMU's "The Politics Hour" that the decision should not be rushed, the Sun reported. Silverman told the Sun she agrees with Lewis George that the bill should wait until the incoming administration's agency directors are in place.

Parker wrote on X that he supports authorizing AVs but wants a few more months to work with the incoming mayor and address concerns raised by firefighters and for-hire vehicle workers, according to the Sun.

Allen pushed back. He said he and Lewis George see the bill differently but that he has never heard her rule out autonomous vehicles entirely, WUSA9 reported.

Outside pressure

Labor unions including the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), the International Association of Machinists and SEIU 32BJ rejected the revised bill's changes, calling the terms "unacceptable" in a joint statement, the Hill Rag reported.

An anonymously funded group called the Coalition for Accountability and Road Safety spent more than $2.6 million on ads opposing the bill, making it the top political ad spender in the midterm elections, the Washington Post reported, according to the Hill Rag. Who funds the group is unclear.

Uber's head of government affairs, LáVita Gardner, said in a statement to the Sun that the council should take more time to consider how the proposals affect rider prices, driver protections and service levels.

Allen said he would like to hold a committee vote this week, though the Hill Rag reported no date had been set. The final D.C. Council legislative meeting of this council period is scheduled for Dec. 15, according to the Hill Rag.