City and County of S.F. v. Public Utilities Com.

Filed 1/14/25 CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO et al., A169262 Petitioners, (PUC No. 23-11-053) v. PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION, Respondent; WAYMO, LLC, Real Party in Interest.

This is an original writ of review proceeding filed by the City and County of San Francisco and the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (Petitioners) challenging a decision by the Public Utilities Commission to issue a phase I driverless autonomous vehicle (AV) deployment permit to Waymo, LLC for fared passenger service in San Francisco and parts of San Mateo County. As we shall explain, this permitting action was taken in accordance with policies and procedures set forth in a prior decision of the Commission, issued after lengthy proceedings in which the Commission considered and addressed myriad policy and operational concerns, including safety concerns, about the licensing of “drivered” (meaning AVs with a driver present) and driverless AVs for hire. Petitioners participated in those proceedings and did not challenge the Commission’s decision therein.

The crux of Petitioners’ challenge to the instant permitting decision is that the Commission failed to follow the law and/or abused its discretion by assertedly disregarding significant public safety issues. However, the record discloses the Commission considered and responded to Petitioners’ safety concerns. It further discloses that few of the incidents that Petitioners brought to the attention of the Commission involved Waymo driverless AVs, each was minor, and none involved injuries. Thus, contrary to Petitioners’ claim, this is not a record from which a court could conclude no reasonable commissioner could have voted to approve issuance of a phase I driverless AV deployment permit to Waymo. By law, our review of Commission decisions is limited, and there is simply no basis on the record here to conclude the Commission acted outside the confines of its authority or abused its discretion in issuing the phase I driverless deployment permit. REGULATORY BACKGROUND Department of Motor Vehicles Regulation of AVs The Legislature has charged the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) with regulating the use of AVs on California roadways. Thus, by statute, any manufacturer seeking to operate an AV on the public roads must apply to the DMV for approval to do so. (Veh. Code, § 38750, subd. (c).) Approval is contingent upon compliance with numerous statutory and regulatory requirements. It is statutorily required, for example, that an AV have a mechanism to engage and disengage the autonomous technology that is “easily accessible to the operator”; contain a system to safely alert the operator if an autonomous technology failure is detected and allow the operator to take control or bring the vehicle to a complete stop; meet all applicable federal and state safety standards; contain a mechanism to capture and store sensor data for at least 30 seconds before any collision;