Love Where You Work

City of Austin deemed one of America's best employers by Forbes

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Austin, Texas - Your CIty Government/Facebook

America's best employers? A handful of them are right here in Texas. Forbes has released its list of the best employers for 2017, featuring several Lone Star companies, including the City of Austin.

The business magazine teamed up with Statista to survey 30,000 U.S. workers, asking how likely they were to recommend working for their organization to friends and family. The final ranking honed in on companies with 5,000 or more employees.

The City of Austin, which ranks No. 9, is the highest ranking government service on Forbes' list (next is NASA, at No. 37).

"This distinction reflects the tireless dedication of the more than 13,000 employees who make the City of Austin an incredible place to work," says interim city manager Elaine Hart in a release. "I continue to be impressed by our staff and am proud to work alongside them every day."

Two Houston healthcare organizations land in the top 10: Memorial Hermann Health System (No. 4) and MD Anderson Cancer Center (No. 6). In addition to saving lives, the two employ a combined 45,000 people.

Ranking between them is San Antonio-based United Services Automobile Association, at No. 5, which employs 28,000 people and serves 11 million members across the globe. At No. 11 is North Texas-based The Container Store, the third best retailer on the list.

The three best companies to work for are Costco, Google, and REI, all of which employ hundreds of Austinites (as do Facebook and Trader Joe's, which rank No. 13 and No. 16, respectively).

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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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