Report - Right of Way: A Blueprint for Stopping Big Tech’s AI Takeover of Our Streets and Cities
Google and Amazon are racing to bring driverless taxis to American cities, but without action from policymakers, these corporations could soon wield extraordinary power over who gets to travel, where they can go, what they pay, and how communities govern their own streets.
A new report from the Open Markets Institute, “Right of Way: A Blueprint for Stopping Big Tech's AI Takeover of Our Streets and Cities”, warns that robotaxi growth threatens to extend Big Tech's monopoly power from the digital world into the physical world, putting the future of American transportation under the control of just a few, already-dominant corporations.
The report calls on federal regulators to break up vertically integrated robotaxi businesses, including requiring Google to divest Waymo and Google Maps. It also urges state and local governments to actively oversee robotaxi fleets, prices, and access to public streets before corporate monopolies become entrenched.
"Google and Amazon already have enormous power over what Americans read, watch, and buy. Now they're positioned to control how we move through the world," said Barry Lynn, Executive Director of the Open Markets Institute. "Our streets are public infrastructure, not another market for Big Tech to monopolize. We cannot allow a handful of corporations to decide which neighborhoods get transportation, how much people pay to travel, or how our cities are designed. Those decisions belong to us."
The report, authored by Open Markets transportation and AI policy lead, Arnav Rao, examines how Google's Waymo and Amazon's Zoox are positioned to dominate the emerging robotaxi industry.
Both companies benefit from their parent corporations' control over essential technologies, including cloud computing, mapping, and digital platforms, giving them advantages that even major automakers and well-funded startups struggle to match.
Google, for example, controls the dominant consumer mapping platform while also owning Waymo, the country's leading robotaxi operator. Amazon owns Zoox while controlling a major share of the cloud computing infrastructure on which autonomous vehicle developers depend. Competitors may find themselves forced to rely on the same corporations they are trying to compete against.
The report warns that, left unchecked, this concentration of power could have sweeping consequences for Americans and their communities:
Big Tech could decide who gets transportation and at what price. Dominant robotaxi operators could charge discriminatory fares, favor profitable neighborhoods, and leave lower-income communities, older Americans, and people with disabilities with fewer options.
Cities could lose control over their own streets. Corporate decisions about where and how robotaxis operate could shape traffic, land use, and urban development, while local governments struggle to protect residents' interests.
Public transit could suffer. Robotaxis could draw riders and revenue away from buses and trains, increasing congestion and pollution while weakening the transportation systems millions of Americans depend on.
Workers and American industry could pay the price. Robotaxis threaten to displace professional drivers and could weaken domestic automakers as technology giants gain control over the software and infrastructure that make autonomous vehicles possible.
A handful of corporations could control essential transportation infrastructure. By dominating mapping, cloud computing, and autonomous driving software, Big Tech could shut out competitors and gain unprecedented influence over the movement of people through American cities.
"The debate over robotaxis has focused almost entirely on whether the vehicles are safe. But even perfectly safe robotaxis could be disastrous for cities if a few corporations control the entire system," said Rao. "We need to decide now who sets the rules: elected governments accountable to the public, or technology monopolies accountable to their shareholders. Once these companies control the infrastructure, it will be much harder to take that power back."
The report offers a blueprint for preventing these outcomes, drawing on longstanding American approaches to regulating railroads, utilities, and other essential services. Among its key recommendations:
Break up vertically integrated robotaxi monopolies. Require structural separation between dominant technology infrastructure and robotaxi businesses, including divestiture of Waymo and Google Maps from Google.
Guarantee fair access to essential technology. Require nondiscriminatory access to cloud computing, mapping, and autonomous driving technology, and invest in public alternatives to privately controlled mapping infrastructure.
Restore public control over streets and transportation. Give state and local regulators the tools to license robotaxi operators, limit fleet sizes, prevent excessive market concentration, and determine where and how services operate.
Protect riders, transit, and workers. Establish fair and transparent pricing, universal service requirements, accessibility protections, measures to prevent congestion and public transit displacement, and funding to help workers transition as driving jobs disappear.
Policymakers still have a brief window to establish rules that encourage innovation while protecting the rights of communities to govern themselves.