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Waymo was expected to launch in the District this year, but was delayed due to congressional budget cuts.
BOSTON — Google’s autonomous vehicle company Waymo is heading to Boston. Waymo was expected to launch in the District this year, but was delayed due to congressional budget cuts.
Now, the Waymo team says the driverless cars will go to one of the nation’s oldest cities to gather insight on how the company’s sixth-generation Waymo Driver will handle snowy conditions, cobblestones, turnpikes and roundabouts, Waymo said in a press release.
Waymo isn’t ready to hit Boston streets just yet, however. Massachusetts still needs to legalize fully autonomous vehicles.
“Our goal is to create a clear and consistent framework to ensure that any new technology on our roads meets established safety standards,” said Massachusetts State Rep. Dan Cahill, who sits on a state public safety committee. “I look forward to continuing discussions with various stakeholders and local communities as we update our transportation laws in a thoughtful and practical way.”
Last year, budget cuts eliminated funding for a critical safety study, derailing the District’s timeline for approving the technology.
The study was supposed to be completed in the fall, but it never happened. When Congress held back more than a billion dollars in D.C. funds as part of federal spending cuts, it forced reductions across the District’s budget. DDOT said the requested study was one of the programs eliminated.
The delay has frustrated Waymo, which had been testing vehicles on D.C. streets and mapping the city’s grid for a planned 2026 launch. In a statement, the company said DDOT and the City Council “have not made progress on a report or new rules, and have indicated there are no plans to move forward with regulation hearings in the near-term.”
On Wednesday, Waymo’s Chief Safety Officer Mauricio Pena testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on the future of self-driving cars.
Pena’s full written testimony can be read here.
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