COVID-19 Impact

Austin poised to lose 260,000 jobs and millions in revenue due to COVID-19

Austin City Council met on Tuesday to discuss economic impact of COVID-19 on the city.

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KVUE — The Austin City Council met Tuesday, April 7, to discuss some of the economic impacts COVID-19 has had so far on city finances, as well as projections for the future.

According to the council's presentation, Austin stands to see 261,275 potential job losses. Estimates also put the city at a revenue loss between $38.3 million and $57.6 million.

Experts said consumer activity (retail and personal services) and hospitality are the two sectors hit first and hardest by the virus. And the City of Austin is seeing the impacts strongest in sales, lodging, and mixed beverage taxes.

One figure provided by the city suggests hotel occupancy is down 95 percent compared to the previous year.

Some of the city enterprise funds severely impacted by the coronavirus include:

Hotel occupancy taxes: The virus has impacted programs at the Convention Center, Historic Preservation, Cultural Arts and Music Funds.
Airport revenue: There has been sharp declines in parking and landing fees, as well as concession revenue.
City parking fees: Fewer people are paying to park in Downtown Austin.

Meanwhile, Austin Energy and Austin Water have seen a moderate impact from COVID-19. Reductions in commercial usage has been partially offset by increased residential usage. Rate reductions and tier changes for residential customers are also being put in place.

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To read the full story, head to KVUE.

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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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