Silicon Hills

Austin deemed No. 1 in America for new tech jobs

Austin is leading the country to tech job growth.

Kumar Appaiah/Flickr

No wonder Austin is dubbed "Silicon Hills." A new report from Forbes shows that Austin is still leading the country in the technology-based jobs.

According to the most recent numbers, Austin is the No. 1 city for tech job growth — a title that the Capital City claimed last year as well. Austin is followed by Raleigh, North Carolina and San Jose, California.

To determine the rankings,the business magazine looked at job growth data between 2004 and 2014. "[Austin] boasts the strongest expansion in tech sector employment of any of the nation's 52 largest metropolitan areas," says Forbes. The findings reveal that Austin's tech scene saw a 73.9 percent expansion in jobs during that time period as well as a 36.4 percent growth for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) jobs. By the end of 2014, Austin boasted 53,118 tech jobs and 86,189 STEM jobs.

Austin is no stranger to recognition from Forbes. The magazine has previously alluded to Silicon Hills overtaking Silicon Valley. "Lack of a personal income tax, relatively cheap real estate and a strong tech community in a carefully planned and revitalized downtown sealed the deal for [hundreds of entrepreneurs] who are flocking to Austin to set up shop," said Forbes in March.

Forbes declared another Texas city as "the biggest surprise" on the list. Houston comes in at No. 4, with 42.3 percent job growth in the tech industry and 37.8 percent in STEM. Rapid job growth there was attributed to the energy and medical industries.

Salt Lake City, Utah; Seattle, Washington; Nashville, Tennessee; Jacksonville, Florida; and Memphis, Tennessee round out the top 10.

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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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