Don't California My Austin

Yup, all of these new people in Austin really are from California

Yeah, we know, Bloomberg Businessweek, we know. Austin is growing really fast and blah, blah, blah. In what must be amounting to a slow news week for everyone, Bloomberg published an article Tuesday about the immense growth in "B-list cities" like Austin.

Disregarding the fact that we were just called "B-list" by a bunch of business nerds, the article does point to data released by the American Community Survey that mapped migration between counties from 2007-2011. (2012-2013 isn't yet available.) In Travis County, most new Austin residents coming from of outside Texas are from, you guessed it, California.

Southern California delivered the majority of transplants, with the Los Angeles and San Diego metro areas accounting for more than 2,000 new arrivals. In Northern California, including San Francisco and the counties that make up Silicon Valley, more than 1,000 residents picked up and moved to Austin, thanks in part to our booming tech industry.

Interestingly, the majority of people who leave Travis County for another state are heading to California. Whether they're going home, or they're just terrible traitors, is unclear.

Where else are people coming from? Seattle; New York City; Washington, D.C. and surrounding suburbs; Philadelphia metro area; Chicago; and Collier County, Florida all saw a sizeable migration. And here's a fun fact you can break out during happy hour: Alaskans account for just about 400 newcomers.

But lest we all worry that Texas is going to be overrun by out-of-staters (like certain writers of this article), don't worry. The overwhelming majority of people moving to Travis County are still from Texas. Harris County alone accounted for 6,027 new residents and Dallas County added a little over 3,000.

So, put down that pitchfork and resist the urge to ram the next Prius you see with your pickup, because we're safe. Well, safe for now.

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Self-driving Roller Coaster

More self-driving cars expected to roll out in Austin for 2025

Photo courtesy of Waymo via KVUE

Various brands offering self-driving cars are on-and-off in Austin.

Expect to see more self-driving rideshare vehicles, also known as robotaxis, on Austin roads next year.

Robotaxi company Waymo, which you may have already seen on Austin's roads, is partnering with Uber. At some point next year, customers will be able to use the Uber app to call a self-driving ride.

Austin-based company Avride is in the testing phase and plans to roll out its robotaxis next year.

Currently, Volkswagen ADMT and Amazon's Zoox are in the testing phase in Austin, while Hyundai's Motional is in the mapping phase.

Last year, robotaxi company Cruise paused operations in Austin after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the company's permits to operate driverless vehicles in the state. And last week, General Motors said it would no longer fund the company because of the time and resources needed.

This way of getting around has come with its safety concerns and issues. The city is tracking those concerns. According to the Transportation Department, the problems span from blocking the roads and parking in front of people's homes for weeks with lights beaming through their windows, to actual wrecks.

Since July 2023, robotaxis have been involved in 75 incidents. Only 21 of those incidents happened in 2024. It's important to note that Cruise has not been operating in Austin this year.

Since July 2023, driverless rideshare vehicles have been involved in 22 near collisions, eight collisions and seven instances where driverless taxis ignored directions from the Austin Police Department (APD).

According to the data, at least four of those Austin police incidents happened in recent months. The issues varied from driving through police checkpoints, to malfunctioning and getting stuck at an APD road closure near pedestrians, causing safety concerns.

A Waymo spokesperson said their vehicles have gesture recognition capabilities, which they've been training APD officers on using.

As the report shows, sometimes it does not work and Waymo said it is working to improve that. The spokesperson said that as of just last week, Waymo's First Responder Program has been independently verified by TÜV SÜD, making Waymo the first autonomous vehicle (AV) company to receive third-party validation for our emergency response protocols. They also said the data to date indicates the Waymo Driver is already reducing traffic injuries and fatalities in the places where the company currently operates.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

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