The city council of Santa Monica voted to end overnight hours at the Waymo charging stations by a 6-0 vote in November of 2025. A judge’s order has just this week forced the charging stations to close, after months of complaints from nearby residents who have had to live next to these facilities, complaining of headlights on all night, beeping and disturbance from the cars being charged overnight.
This left the Culver City Council with a decision to vote on a proposed 45 day moratorium to create a policy for AV fleets; but the votes were not there, and so that has left the door open for autonomous vehicle companies to apply for permits without restrictions. Unusually, the request for the ordinance came from city staff.
The vote fell short, and that leaves the future open to companies moving in without clear regulations.
Four votes were required for the ‘urgency ordinance’ to pass. Council member Dan O’Brien recused himself from voting on the issue, saying that “Waymo is a member of the [Culver City] Chamber of Commerce…”
The charging stations in Santa Monica are owned by the Culver City-based company Voltera, and sources inside City Hall have offered that there are several companies with permits ‘already in the pipeline.’
Gabriel Barreras of the City’s Planning Department gave the report, noting that the city was looking to “take a proactive approach to working with AV Fleet Services…which are not currently identified as a permitted land use in the city.” City staff was asking for a 45 day moratorium to give the city time to create policy that would recognize and regulate AV fleet services. “There are some community and neighborhood concerns…noise, lighting and operational impacts during both daytime and nighttime hours…and limited operational oversight [by humans] at facilities.”
The challenge is that AV fleets are looking to charge in residential neighborhoods, as they have done in Santa Monica. Vice Mayor Bubba Fish asked specifically how Culver City could prevent the kind of problems that Santa Monica is experiencing.
Barreras responded that “The state of California will allow cities to regulate in regard to health and safety risks.”
While Both Fish and Council member Yasmine Imani McMorrin argued that the 45 day moratorium time was needed for community input. Hearing from the soon-to-be-affected residents would be vital to creating these facilities, and avoiding the issues that have kept Santa Monica in court. Council member Albert Vera, Jr. was not willing to place a 45 day moratorium, saying that it was not good for business.
The vote fell short, with Fish and McMorrin voting yes, Vera voting no and Mayor Freddy Puza abstaining.
Judith Martin-Straw
