Showdown Over Robotaxis in San Francisco

A California state board is set to vote Aug. 10 on whether to allow tech companies Waymo and Cruise to launch a massive expansion of driverless taxi fleets in San Francisco, but the stakes are far bigger than local politics.

The scheduled vote by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is shaping up as a referendum on an array of issues related to technology, including the politics of artificial intelligence and the human workforce affected by the technology’s rapid development.

If the commission agrees, hundreds of self-driving taxis could soon be available for hire by the general public, all day every day.

Tech executives, labor unions, transit advocates, city officials and robotaxi customers are all engaged in furious last-minute lobbying to try to sway the board’s five appointed members -- setting the stage for what promises to be a state-by-state battle over self-driving cars and trucks.