Image: Waymo

Waymo, the California-based autonomous driving company owned by Google parent Alphabet, has confirmed it is engaging with Australian officials about its autonomous vehicles.

In a statement provided to Zag Daily, a Waymo spokesperson said: “Waymo has global ambitions. We actively engage with regulators and lawmakers around the world, including Australian officials, to explain our technology and advocate for policies that would allow us to serve riders just as we do in the U.S.”

The comment follows online reports that Waymo is accelerating plans to launch a robotaxi service in Australia as early as this year and that the company has held discussions with electric vehicle makers and the New South Wales Government. Waymo did not confirm those reports and declined to provide specifics on the nature, timing or stage of any discussions with federal or state governments.

Any Australian deployment would require regulatory approval. Testing autonomous vehicles on public roads is currently governed by state and territory permit schemes, while the federal government is working towards a national automated vehicle safety framework due to be introduced later this decade.

Source: Zag Daily

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Brett Barenholtz, President, National Limousine Association (NLA)

Amid increasing national concern over passenger safety in ride-hailing services, the National Limousine Association (NLA) is calling for urgent legislative and regulatory action to establish consistent, enforceable safety standards across all ground transportation platforms. 

Recent reporting and ongoing litigation underscore the seriousness of the issue. Court filings indicate more than 558,000 reports of sexual violence associated with Uber rides between 2017 and 2024, ranging from misconduct to severe assault. Thousands of related federal lawsuits are currently moving through the court system, with bellwether cases expected to influence future settlements and regulatory outcomes.

“These reports raise serious questions about whether voluntary, platform-led safety measures are sufficient to protect the riding public,” said Brett Barenholtz, President of the National Limousine Association. “Passenger safety should never depend on which app someone uses. Riders deserve transparency, accountability, and safety standards that reflect the risks being reported nationwide.”

As the association representing professionally trained, commercially insured and heavily regulated chauffeured‑transportation providers, the NLA is urging policymakers to implement uniform safeguards that apply across all passenger transportation services.

The NLA calls on Congress, state legislatures, local regulators and public safety stakeholders to accelerate reforms, including:

• Consistent, enforceable safety protocols across platforms
• Uniform background check requirements for all drivers
• Mandatory safety-incident reporting standards
• Stronger oversight and enforcement for platforms with systemic safety failures

Click Here to Learn More about the NLA

Uber Launches an ‘AV Labs’ Division to Gather Driving Data for Robotaxi Partners

Uber has more than 20 autonomous vehicle partners, and they all want one thing: data. So the company says it’s going to make that available through a new division called Uber AV Labs.

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EVs Promised Cleaner Air. Satellites Say It’s Finally Happening.

EVs are supposed to clean up the air, but finding real-world proof has been surprisingly hard. A new study from the University of Southern California (USC) says the satellite evidence is finally strong enough to measure.

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New Jersey E-Bike Riders Will Require License, Registration & Insurance under Newly Signed Law

The new law for New Jersey will move away from the three-class e-bike classifications used in 46 US states and instead will use its own categories. The new categories defined in the law will be low-speed electric bike (pedal assist up to 20mph), motorized bike (throttle assist up to 28 mph) and electric motorized bicycle (a bike with pedals that can go over 28mph).

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Halifax Council Set to Debate Bylaw Proposing Increased Oversight for Uber

Halifax Regional Council is expected to begin debate today on a proposed bylaw requiring more oversight of drivers working for ride-hailing companies like Uber. If approved, rules for ride-hailing services would be brought in line with those covering taxi and limousine companies. The bylaw includes requirements for drivers to send the city results from training and background checks and an extra $135 in fees.

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Vancouver: Broadway Businesses ‘Very Anxious’ amid Subway Construction Closure

The closure of a busy block along Vancouver's East Broadway is raising concerns from a local business association that the disruptions could echo the long-term impacts of the Canada Line construction nearly two decades ago.

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Ontario Liberals Call for Public Inquiry into Eglinton Crosstown LRT Delays

Premier Doug Ford said in December the line could open in 2026 or “very soon after,” but no official timeline has been announced by the province, Metrolinx or the Toronto Transit Commission.

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UK Sees Surge in US-Style Pick-Up Trucks over Past Decade

New research from environmental campaign group Clean Cities has found that registrations of the most commonly sold pick-up trucks have risen by 92% in just over a decade. There are now nearly 600,000 of these vehicles on UK roads, compared with just over 308,000 in 2014.

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How Suburban Mobility Is Reshaping Transport around Copenhagen

A living lab in Rudersdal, a pre-urban municipality around 20 kilometres north of Copenhagen, challenges the precedent that shared mobility belongs only to cities. Over the past year, the municipality has served as a test bed for how shared bikes and cars can support public transport in a setting where distances are longer, populations are fewer and private vehicles still dominate everyday travel.

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Dutch Court Rules Uber Drivers Can Be Treated as Self-Employed

A Dutch court on Tuesday overturned a 2021 ruling that had classified all Uber drivers as employees, stating that individual drivers can be treated as independent entrepreneurs. The Amsterdam court said six drivers who had joined the rideshare company in its appeal are self-employed rather than employees, given the investments they made in their vehicle, their freedom to choose working hours and their ability to accept or reject rides.

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India Could Become a World-Leading Air Taxi Market, Skyportz Says

Delhi could emerge as a major launch market for air taxis, according to new analysis from Australian infrastructure company Skyportz. The company forecasts tens of millions of passenger trips per year and demand for thousands of vertipads across the Indian city by the mid-2040s.

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Kakao Mobility, Key Execs Indicted for Fair Trade Violations over Blocking Rival Ride Requests

Prosecutors on Monday indicted Kakao Mobility, its chief executive and other executives on charges of violating fair trade laws over allegations that the company blocked taxi ride requests to pressure rival franchise operators. The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office said it indicted CEO Ryu Geung-seon, a vice president and a business division head without detention. Prosecutors also indicted the company as a corporate entity under a joint punishment provision that allows courts to penalize both individuals and companies for illegal conduct.

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Taxi Overcharging after K-Pop Concerts Ends Night on Sour Note for Some Visitors

Concertgoers come for the music but leave frustrated, as taxi drivers overcharging foreign tourists near concert venues and airports continue to tarnish Korea’s image.

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Image: TaxiPoint UK

Transport for London (TfL) has published its first pan-city roadworks and traffic management plan, setting out how the capital’s road network will be operated and upgraded over the next five years, with changes that are expected to affect taxis, private hire vehicles and other commercial road users.

The strategy focuses on using new technology, data and tighter coordination with London boroughs to improve traffic flow, reduce disruption from roadworks and support TfL’s longer-term objectives around safety, sustainability and congestion reduction. While much of the plan centres on improving bus reliability, TfL says the measures are designed to benefit all road users operating on one of the busiest urban networks in the world.

London’s road system includes around 6,400 automated traffic signal junctions and pedestrian crossings, handling billions of journeys each year. TfL says new infrastructure and upgraded control systems will be critical to managing this demand more efficiently, particularly as streets continue to carry more journeys from buses, freight, taxis, cyclists and pedestrians.

A central element of the plan is the continued rollout and enhancement of TfL’s FUSION traffic control system. Already in use across much of the capital, the system will be upgraded to process a wider range of real-time data and react more quickly to changing traffic conditions. TfL estimates the changes could cut delays by up to 14 percent and deliver up to £1bn in economic benefits through reduced journey times. Future upgrades are expected to allow the system to integrate artificial intelligence-based sensors.

TfL is also expanding the use of Vivacity AI cameras to better understand how different road users move through the network. The technology can distinguish between pedestrians, cyclists, wheelchair users, taxis and heavy goods vehicles, providing more detailed data than traditional traffic counters. More than 1,000 cameras are expected to feed into shared data platforms with boroughs, informing decisions such as signal timings and crossing phases that can affect vehicle flow and stopping patterns.

For taxi drivers, one of the most immediate operational impacts is likely to come from the expansion of the lane rental scheme. Previously limited to TfL red routes, the scheme charges utilities and contractors for occupying busy roads at peak times. TfL says this has reduced congestion and improved air quality where it operates. From January 2026, four boroughs Camden, Enfield, Lambeth and Merton have already received Department for Transport approval to introduce their own schemes, with a further 22 boroughs progressing applications. The Government is in the process of devolving approval powers to the Mayor, which TfL says should allow more consistent rollout across London.

Source: TaxiPoint UK

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