What Say You? What If We? Are You Sure?
(QUICK READ) — When congressional aides were asked by CNCT Capitol Pulse recently whether they would support allowing driver-less cabs to operate in the national capital, and two out of three of them either expressed outright opposition or professed to be unsure.
The results come as the prospect of commercially operated Waymo vehicles operating on D.C. streets appears to be growing. The vehicles have no driver and are instead operated and guided by digital resources. One might view a Waymo cab ride as calling on AI to get somewhere physically.
The CNCT Capitol Pulse results turned up 40 percent saying no to autonomous rideshare vehicles, including 50 percent of Democratic men and 36 percent of GOP men. The overall party split for No responses was 44 percent Democrats and 35 percent Republicans.
The one-third, or 35 percent of the respondents who said they are fine with allowing autonomous ridesharing vehicles to operate here including somewhat more Republicans than Democrats at 38 percent versus 32 percent. Interestingly, the Unsures were the most closely divided, with 27 percent on the Republican side and 24 percent for the Democratic side.
Considering these results, it’s hard to argue with CNCT Capitol Pulse’s characterization of the data: “Most staffers do not support Waymo unleashing autonomous vehicles on the hectic streets of DC. A significant portion of staffers are unsure.”