The other day, we talked about a prospective ordinance in the City of Minneapolis that would require self-driving vehicles — Waymos and, er, all the others — to have a human attendant in the vehicle. The ordinance would render the "autonomous" vehicles not "autonomous" at all — but it would featherbed the new industry with make-work jobs for all the (overwhelmingly immigrant, heavily Somali) Uber and Lyft drivers (no doubt via a lavishly-funded non-profit "public-private partnership", possibly named "Quality Diving Center".
There was a vigorous debate on the measure in the Minneapolis City Council. And if you've followed the tale of the Minneapolis City Council this past six years, you know that when I say "vigorous", I really mean "comical", right?
Here's Council member Jason Chavez, who represents a shabby-chic district in South Minneapolis, talking about his motivation for his vote:
🤡🤡In a moment of breathtaking bottom of the barrel scraping, Jason “lil kim” Chavez said, WITH A STRAIGHT FACE that cats will be saved by their business crushing ordinance.🐈😹
— Becka Thompson (@becka_thompson) October 1, 2026
So now we must ask, is CM Chavez recklessly endangering squirrels by allowing his cat to roam the…
"Cats have been killed by these autonomous vehicles, and I have a cat," he said. "I don't want my cat getting killed because of these autonomous vehicles. So to those cat lovers out there, just know that these Waymo vehicles, these autonomous vehicles have killed cats."
So apparently "they're killing the cats" is an appropriate campaign meme.
Perhaps counterintuitively, not everyone on the Minneapolis City Council is bonkers, and some are even self-aware enough to know the image measures like this, and testimony like Chavez's, sends to the rest of the world:
Councilmember Elizabeth Schaffer opposes the measure, saying it's no wonder other cities raise an eyebrow to Minneapolis.
"When we jump out ahead of research and develop policy that is affecting other jurisdictions, people wonder what we are doing," she said.
As I said, not everyone on the council is insane. Only 54%:
The Minneapolis City Council passed an ordinance, 7- 6, Thursday, requiring human monitors in the driver's seat of robotaxis.
The Workers Drive Minneapolis policy will affect any commercial autonomous vehicles operating in the city, including Waymos, Tesla's Cybercabs and Amazon's Zoox. Waymo began test rides and road mapping in the city in November 2025, but has not yet started offering rides to customers.
Mayor Frey - who is simultaneously taking fire from the sane parts of this nation for being a progressive caricature and from his city council for being too moderate, is apparently providing a gust of common sense:
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says he'll veto the ordinance requiring a human behind the wheel of autonomous robotaxis like Waymo. The council passed the ordinance 7-6, so seems unlikely they'll get the 9 votes needed to override. Background: https://t.co/lfOGjnUJQd pic.twitter.com/QnLvddXsfj
— Max Nesterak (@maxnesterak) October 1, 2026
“Requiring a driver in a driverless car doesn’t make sense,” Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement. “Minneapolis is open for business, open to innovative technology, and open to a variety of transportation options. Thoughtful regulation for safety is necessary, but not through a backdoor ban.”
The city council was split on whether or not allowing driverless vehicles will make Minneapolis roads safer. Council Member Jamison Whiting said all of the research he has done points to autonomous vehicles being the safer option.
“If we as a council, as a body, again have the ability to make a decision that can reduce the cause of death in this city, I think that is an option, that is a debate that needs to be had," Whiting said.
The "days since Minneapolis was a national embarrassment" counter is reserved at "0" until well into next spring.
