California will fine robotaxi companies that block first responders for over 30 minutes

SB 1246 sets new rules for autonomous vehicles that break down or get in the way of emergency responders. TechCrunch says it's designed to improve safety and response times, and to hold companies accountable when things go wrong.

It applies to companies running robotaxis in California. TechCrunch names Tesla, Waymo and Zoox.

The main rules, based on TechCrunch and the office of state Senator Dave Cortese, who wrote the bill:

• Fines for blocking responders: companies can be penalized when a robotaxi blocks first responders during an emergency for more than 30 minutes.
• Help on the ground: companies must provide "local incident technicians," on-site contacts who can assist with crashes and blocked roads.
• Outage alerts: during system-wide failures, companies must tell cities, towns and other local governments where their vehicles are and what state they're in.
• US-based remote drivers: anyone who drives a robotaxi from afar must be based in the United States and hold a US driver's license.
• Shut-off on request: robotaxis must be able to be disabled manually or remotely when a first responder asks, according to Cortese's office.
• More reporting: companies must report more about how quickly they respond to incidents.

Cortese's office says the penalties go back to the local jurisdictions.

==The law takes effect in July 2028, TechCrunch reports.== That gives companies time to prepare.

Some details aren't set yet, and the long runway matters: rules on paper only help once the DMV turns them into specific requirements companies can be measured against. California's Department of Motor Vehicles, which regulates autonomous vehicles in the state, will write guidelines for parts of the law, including how quickly technicians must respond.

The law follows a series of incidents in which robotaxis broke down and blocked traffic, drove into crime scenes or got in the way of first responders, TechCrunch says.

Most of those incidents involved Waymo, the largest robotaxi operator in the US. TechCrunch reports Waymo has about 4,000 autonomous vehicles in its commercial fleet nationwide, with about 1,200 in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Cortese's office pointed to two examples:

• August 2025: a robotaxi near Redwood City got stranded near an active grass fire and couldn't be redirected. It took a California Highway Patrol officer about 30 minutes to get in and move it.
• December 2025: a power outage in San Francisco reportedly stalled about 1,500 Waymo vehicles, disrupting traffic and transit. Responders trying to reach companies for help reportedly waited up to 53 minutes.

The San Francisco Standard reported earlier this year that Waymo told state regulators its cars stopped 1,593 times for two minutes or more during that outage. It also reported that Waymos had blocked first responders in the city 31 times since April 2025.

Pressure also came from city hall. The San Francisco Standard reported that after a fogged-in Fourth of July fireworks show was snarled by stalled Waymos and hours of gridlock, Mayor Daniel Lurie wrote to state officials urging stricter robotaxi rules.

A TechCrunch investigation earlier this year also found cases where Waymo relied on first responders to manually drive its vehicles when they ran into trouble. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent a letter to robotaxi developers asking them to come up with "solutions."

In real life Picture a fire truck racing to a call, and a robotaxi frozen in the middle of the street. Under this law, the company has to send someone who can move the car, and if the block lasts more than 30 minutes during an emergency, it can be fined.

This part of the law is narrower than it sounds. TechCrunch explains that "remote operations" has been used loosely, and little is known about exactly how companies use it.

The law focuses on remote drivers: humans who directly operate a vehicle from far away.

• Tesla is the only company that has publicly said it has remote operators who can take direct control of its robotaxis, according to TechCrunch.
• Waymo says it uses remote assistance instead. The self-driving system stays in control, and staff can give guidance or send commands. TechCrunch reports Waymo's remote assistance network includes staff in the Philippines, plus command centers in Arizona and Michigan.
• Zoox says its remote operations teams are based in the US.

Think of it like the difference between a driving instructor grabbing the wheel and one giving directions from the passenger seat. The new US-only rule covers the first kind.

TechCrunch reports that Waymo and Zoox have said they will comply.

"We are grateful for the amendments made to the bill, which ensure autonomous vehicle operators can still feasibly serve Californians," a Waymo spokesperson told TechCrunch. "Waymo is committed to making roads safer in California and continually improving our service."

The industry didn't support every version of the bill. The San Francisco Standard reported in July that the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association, Waymo and about 30 other groups opposed an earlier draft, arguing its notification rules would force companies to send technicians even for minor incidents. The final law was amended before it passed.

That earlier draft, as the Standard described it, set fines of $5,000 for each failure to move a car and $10,000 when a roadblock of more than 30 minutes held up first responders.

The amounts in the signed law weren't detailed in the reports we read.

This isn't Cortese's first try. The Standard notes an earlier, broader bill of his, SB 915, would have let cities write their own robotaxi rules, but it died in committee in 2024. SB 1246 is narrower.

Cortese summed up his view to TechCrunch: "California has embraced autonomous vehicles, but we cannot embrace innovation at the expense of public safety."

In a statement when the bill passed the Legislature, he went further: first responders "need a direct line to someone who can act, not a corporate voicemail."

David Green, president of SEIU 721, said in the same release that the law "gives first responders the authority they need when every second matters."

The bill was sponsored by SEIU California and supported by groups including the California Police Chiefs Association and California Professional Firefighters, according to Cortese's office. For more on the company most affected, see our Waymo coverage.

• If you ride robotaxis in California: service should keep running, and Waymo and Zoox say they'll comply.
• If you live in a robotaxi city: stalled cars blocking emergencies should get faster on-site help once the law starts in July 2028.
• If you follow self-driving tech: watch the DMV's rules on response times, which will decide how strict the law really is.