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Ducey: Restrictive regulations in other states drove AV testing to Arizona

Doug Ducey · a16z Podcast | Of Governors and Mayors, and Tech Policy · Jan 2, 2019 · at 6:42

Doug Ducey, Governor of Arizona, explains how Arizona attracted self-driving vehicle companies by offering a light regulatory environment compared to other states.

0:00 / 0:27exact quote · 27.6s

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“The New York Times front page of the business section recognized that self-driving vehicles were coming to Arizona today. To learn. And that was actually a result of other governors pushing them out and saying, we're going to hit you with permitting fees. We're going to hit you with recertification. We're going to hit you with extra licensing. And what we said is once we're satisfied that public safety, we've checked that box and public health, you're welcome to come test and roll out in our state.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

Autonomous vehicle companies moved testing operations to Arizona because other states burdened them with permitting fees, recertifications, and licensing requirements.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

In December 2016, Uber shut down its self-driving vehicle testing operations in San Francisco and relocated its fleet to Arizona after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the vehicles' registrations. California required autonomous vehicle testing permits ($150 plus $50 per additional vehicle), specialized vehicle registration/licensing mandates, and mandatory disengagement reporting. Arizona, under Governor Doug Ducey's Executive Order 2015-09, required no specialized AV permit fees, no disengagement reporting, and allowed test vehicles to operate under standard motor vehicle registrations. Other AV developers, including Waymo, similarly shifted significant portions of their road-testing mileage to Arizona during 2016 and 2017 to avoid California's permitting burdens.

In December 2016, California DMV revoked Uber's self-driving vehicle registrations after Uber refused to apply for California's Autonomous Vehicle Testing Permit and pay the associated fees.
On December 22, 2016, Uber officially halted its San Francisco testing program and moved its self-driving test fleet to Arizona.
Arizona's Executive Order 2015-09 imposed $0 specialized AV permitting fees and standard vehicle licensing requirements, explicitly contrasting with California's regulatory mandates.

Checked against

[1] latimes.com [2] businessinsider.com [3] voanews.com [4] azdot.gov [5] smartcitiesdive.com [6] theguardian.com [7] enotrans.org [8] time.com

"autonomous vehicle" "Arizona" permit fee California disengagement report 2016 2017 Uber self driving cars Arizona permit California DMV 2016 2017 Uber autonomous vehicles move from California to Arizona December 2016 permit revoked Doug Ducey Arizona self driving cars California DMV regulations December 2016 "disengagement reports" California DMV autonomous vehicle testing Arizona 2017

assessed as of 2026-07-31

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Mentioned

Arizona Doug Ducey self-driving vehicles

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