Where robotaxis are legal

Driverless robotaxis can legally carry the paying public. Oversight is split: the DMV licenses driverless operation and the CPUC licenses paid rides, an operator needs both (only Waymo has both today). Courts confirmed in 2025 that cities can't veto it.

Driverless operation is allowed by self-certification; ride-hail needs an ADOT permit. No safety operator required, and no city veto.

A TxDMV authorization is required to run commercial AVs (enforced from May 2026). No in-car human is required, but an emergency-response plan is. State law preempts local bans.

Fully autonomous operation is allowed by self-certification to the DMV, with $5M in liability coverage. Fare-service rules are less explicit than California's.

State law treats the automated system as the driver and lets autonomous ride networks run under the ride-hail framework with no human aboard. Local regulation is preempted.

Fully autonomous operation with no driver is allowed, given insurance and registration. There's no dedicated state AV regulator.

Michigan law lets a qualified manufacturer run an on-demand driverless ride network (its SAVE program), with the automated system treated as the driver, self-certification, and $10M insurance. No in-car operator is required.

Act 130 of 2022 legalized commercial operation of highly automated vehicles (SAE Level 3 to 5), with or without a human driver, and made PennDOT the sole regulator, preempting local bans.

Washington runs a self-certification framework (RCW 46.92): AV operators must register with the Department of Licensing, carry insurance, notify law enforcement, and report crashes. It's geared to testing rather than a settled commercial driverless service.

The District allows autonomous vehicles to test only, including fully driverless testing once a company clears supervised testing first. There's no paid public robotaxi service yet. A bill the DC Council heard in July 2026 (B26-0684) would authorize commercial service for the first time.

The Automated Vehicles Act 2024 is the legal basis, but commercial driverless service waits on secondary rules and a permit regime. The DfT targets first paid pilots in spring 2026 and fuller rollout in H2 2027.

The EU set the first Level-4 type-approval rules, but a type-approved vehicle still needs each member state to authorize its operating area. Deployment is small-series only for now.

Germany's 2021 Autonomous Driving Act was among the first national laws to allow SAE Level 4 driverless operation on public roads, but only inside approved operating areas and with a remote 'technical supervisor'. It's area-by-area, not open nationwide.

France's 2021 ordinance and decree set a national framework for automated vehicles up to fully driverless, but only on predefined routes or zones and under a remote intervention operator. Deployment is route-by-route, not open service.

There's no single national robotaxi license, individual cities grant fully-driverless commercial permits (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Chongqing). The city is the gatekeeper.

Autonomous vehicles run only under Transport Department trial permits; there's no general commercial driverless service yet. Apollo Go, the first approved operator, moved to operator-free testing in 2026.

Level-4 operation is permitted by prefectural permit with a remote-monitoring system, but deployments are mostly shuttles, general urban robotaxi service isn't broadly settled yet.

Paid autonomous service is allowed only within designated pilot zones, and current operations still carry a safety operator.

AVs run on an opt-in trial basis; driverless requires clearing the LTA's assessment milestones. The current public service still has a safety operator onboard.

Dubai's RTA licenses every autonomous vehicle; fully-driverless fare-charging is live, confined to designated routes and zones.

Saudi Arabia's Transport General Authority runs an initial operational phase of autonomous vehicles in Riyadh, with Uber and WeRide, on designated routes under the Authority's technical supervision. It's an early pilot, not open commercial service.

Canada has no single driverless-service law. Transport Canada sets federal vehicle safety standards and grants exemptions, while provinces run pilots; Ontario's program allows automated-vehicle testing, including driverless, under set conditions.