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MINNEAPOLIMEDIA NEWS | Minneapolis Proposal Would Put a Human Driver Back Inside Driverless Cars
Proposed city rules would require commercial autonomous-vehicle companies to obtain a license and employ a safety monitor behind the wheel as Waymo tests the technology in Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (September 11, 2026). Minneapolis could impose one of the most consequential local restrictions yet on commercial driverless vehicles, requiring companies operating autonomous cars to put a licensed, paid human safety monitor behind the wheel.
The proposal arrives as autonomous-vehicle technology moves from distant experiment toward an immediate transportation question for Minneapolis.
Waymo is currently testing autonomous vehicles in the city. The vehicles are not yet carrying paying passengers without drivers, and a person remains in the front seat during current testing.
The company ultimately intends to expand autonomous operations.
Four Minneapolis City Council members, Robin Wonsley, Jamal Osman, Jason Chavez and Aurin Chowdhury, have introduced a proposed ordinance establishing local requirements for commercial autonomous vehicles.
The proposal would require an autonomous-vehicle company to obtain a city license before operating commercially in Minneapolis.
More unusually, the ordinance would require a human safety monitor to sit in the driver's seat.
That person would have to be a licensed driver with immediate access to the vehicle's steering, braking and acceleration controls.
The safety monitor would also have to be paid at least the applicable minimum wage.
A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for September 22.
The ordinance's sponsors have identified two major concerns: traffic safety and the potential economic consequences of automation for people who currently earn their living driving passengers.
Minneapolis has thousands of Uber and Lyft drivers, including many immigrant workers. The council members supporting the proposal argue that commercial autonomous vehicles could begin competing with those drivers without being subject to the same local regulatory structure that applies to rideshare companies.
The proposal therefore puts Minneapolis at the intersection of two policy questions that cities across the country increasingly face.
The first is whether autonomous vehicles are sufficiently safe to operate without a human capable of taking immediate control.
The second is what local governments should do when automation begins replacing work currently performed by people.
Waymo sees the proposed Minneapolis requirement very differently.
The company has argued that requiring a human driver inside a vehicle designed to operate autonomously would effectively prevent genuine driverless service.
Waymo's state and local public-policy manager Adam Lane described the proposal as a “de facto ban on autonomous vehicles.”
That disagreement gets to the core of the issue.
A vehicle with a licensed person continuously sitting behind its steering wheel and capable of immediately taking control may use autonomous technology, but it is fundamentally different from the completely driverless commercial service companies such as Waymo are developing.
Minnesota does not currently have a comprehensive state regulatory system specifically governing autonomous vehicles.
State lawmakers considered autonomous-vehicle legislation during the 2026 legislative session, including proposed requirements governing authorization and automated-driving-system failures, but comprehensive rules did not become Minnesota's operating framework.
That leaves Minneapolis confronting the technology while broader questions of state regulation remain unresolved.
The city's proposed ordinance would not take effect immediately even if adopted.
Under the current proposal, the requirements would take effect in October 2027, giving companies and city regulators time to prepare.
Before that can happen, however, the ordinance must go through the City Council's legislative process.
The September 22 public hearing will give residents, drivers, autonomous-vehicle companies and other interested parties an opportunity to respond before council members decide whether the proposal should advance.
The debate is likely to reach beyond whether Minneapolis residents are comfortable seeing a car drive down Hennepin Avenue without someone holding the steering wheel.
Commercial autonomous vehicles could eventually affect rideshare drivers, taxi services, transportation access for people with disabilities, traffic enforcement, insurance, liability and the way cities regulate companies that move passengers through public streets.
The technology also forces policymakers to decide where responsibility lies when software rather than a person performs the driving task.
For now, Waymo's Minneapolis test vehicles still have people inside them.
The ordinance under consideration would make sure commercial autonomous vehicles continue to have someone in the driver's seat, even after the technology says they no longer need one.
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