During a two-hour hearing in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, top executives from Waymo and Tesla urged lawmakers to act on long-stalled legislation to speed up the deployment of self-driving cars on public roads. But after two hours of questions and answers on a range of hot-button topics, including robotaxi safety, legal liability, remote control and China, it was clear that lawmakers are no closer to passing an autonomous vehicle bill.
Waymo has faced questions over its decision to use a Chinese-made vehicle for its next-generation robot taxi, as well as several incidents where its vehicles failed to stop behind a school bus while picking up students. Tesla was asked about its decision to remove radar from its vehicles, its stance on binding arbitration and its misleading marketing regarding its autonomous features. And officials from both companies were asked if they believed the U.S. was in danger of being overtaken by China without a national framework to regulate autonomous vehicles. Naturally they agreed.
“For America to lead in AV technology, we must modernize the regulations that hinder the industry’s ability to innovate,” said Lars Moravy, Tesla’s vice president of automotive engineering, during his opening statement. “Federal vehicle regulations have not kept pace with the rapid pace of technology development. Many standards were implemented decades ago and do not adequately address modern advances such as electric drives, automated driving systems and wireless software updates. We need US leadership on AV rules and regulations.”
But whether Congress will finally pass legislation regulating autonomous vehicles remains uncertain. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who chairs the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and oversaw today’s hearing, said he thinks it can be done as part of the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act, which covers federal funding for highway, transit and safety programs.
Due to the nature of the questions during the hearing, lawmakers remain divided about the potential benefits of driverless cars — and the companies that operate them.
“Safety” was the watchword of the hearing. Representatives for Waymo and Tesla both said this was their guiding principle. And several senators agreed that roads would be safer with more autonomous vehicles on the road.
However, both companies were concerned about specific security flaws involving their vehicles. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said any federal legislation would have to address Tesla’s deceptive marketing practices.
“Tesla was allowed to market their technology that they knew needed human supervision as autopilot because there were no federal handrails,” she said.
But whether the federal government is up to the task is an open question, Cantwell added, noting that under Elon Musk’s DOGE, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration lost 25 percent of its staff, leaving the Office of Automation with only four employees at one point. That led to less enforcement: NHTSA launched significantly fewer subpoenaed investigations in 2025 than in previous years, she noted.
“Are we going to keep letting people die in the United States?” Cantwell asked. “Without strong federal oversight, it’s no wonder states are scrambling to fill the void.”
Meanwhile, Waymo failed to stop while operating a school bus in Austin, Texas, and a recent incident in which a robot car hit a child at low speed in Santa Monica, California came up during the hearing.
Mauricio Peña, Waymo’s chief safety officer, said the company collects data on various light patterns and conditions and integrates those findings into its system to help prevent these incidents from happening again. And he noted that Waymo safely navigates thousands of school bus encounters each week without incident. What Peña failed to mention, however, was that Waymo vehicles were recorded illegally passing stopped school buses even after a software update was issued to fix the problem.
Liability and Arbitration
Binding arbitration was also mentioned during the meeting, where companies force customers to resolve disputes in courts that favor the company. Cantwell said she would not support legislation that would have barred damaged parts from suing robotaxi companies.
She was joined on the other side by Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), who expressed concern that driverless car companies are relying on lengthy terms or arbitration clauses to limit liability. He pressed Waymo’s Peña on the matter, who deflected by explaining that it was not his area of expertise.
Moreno also pressed witnesses about legal liability in a driverless vehicle crash. Both Peña and Moravy said their respective companies would accept responsibility for incidents where the technology was at fault.
Bryant Walker Smith, a professor at the University of South Carolina’s law and engineering schools who specializes in emerging transportation technologies, was also on the witness panel. He said NHTSA has historically played a role in changing industry culture by confronting companies that continued to promote faulty technology, such as faulty airbags, and forcing a cultural shift.
The threat posed by China came up numerous times during the hearing, with Autonomous Vehicle Association CEO Jeff Farrah warning lawmakers that China could become the “global leader” in autonomous vehicles without congressional action.
China became an obstacle for Waymo as well, when Moreno questioned Peña about the Alphabet-owned company’s decision to use a Chinese-made vehicle for its next-generation robotaxi platform. Current US law prohibits the importation of any vehicle with autonomous or connectivity software originating in China. However, Peña explained that Geely-built vehicles are stripped of all software before they arrive in the US. Waymo installs all autonomous software itself, and no data is shared with anyone outside the US.
But Moreno sounded unconvinced.
“So giving a natural market to a Chinese company to supply us with cars is going to make us better and create more jobs for Americans?” said the senator. “This is completely ridiculous.
Distant operators and the design domain
Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) raised the issue of remote operators who can occasionally help robotaxis navigate difficult situations. Markey pressed Peña to tell him the location of the Waymo operators, and Peña responded that while some are based in the United States, others are located abroad, specifically in the Philippines. Peña was unable to provide a percentage breakdown, which Markey criticized as alarming given the security nature of the role.
Markey also raised concerns about latency, cybersecurity vulnerabilities and the broader implications of shipping remaining human jobs overseas and replacing domestic drivers with automation. He called the idea of ”backseat transatlantic drivers” dangerous and unacceptable.
He also criticized Tesla for not stating geographic restrictions on its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features, and claimed that the company was not following the best practices of all other AV companies.
“Tesla is putting American lives at risk,” Markey raged. “And that’s unreasonable.