Local incident technician

When a driverless car stops working, someone has to move it. Until now that someone was often a police officer or a firefighter who happened to be standing there.

California’s Senate Bill 1246 names the role instead. A local incident technician is a company employee who has to turn up at the car, in person, when it crashes, blocks traffic, blocks emergency access, or when first responders ask for help.

During the December 2025 San Francisco blackout, crews calling for that kind of help waited on hold for up to 53 minutes, according to Senator Dave Cortese’s office. From July 2028, a city can fine a company that leaves an emergency blocked for more than 30 minutes after asking for a technician.