As more Waymos and other autonomous vehicles hit the road, a Bay Area congressman and the mayor of San Francisco are calling for new national safety standards.

Congressman Kevin Mullin, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, the city's fire chief, and advocates for highway and auto safety gathered in San Francisco on Tuesday to urge the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to establish uniform safety standards across state lines.

The group said there is growing evidence that autonomous vehicles (AVs) are creating dangerous situations and interfering with first responders during power outages and other emergencies.

Senior Investigative Reporter Bigad Shaban examines the new local push to get national safety standards for autonomous vehicles.

On the night of July Fourth, a line of immobilized Waymos in San Francisco caused even more traffic congestion and confusion during an already jam-packed event. One Waymo even drove through fireworks.

"The unusually heavy traffic created navigation challenges and some AVs blocked intersections," Lurie said.

Mullin said incidents involving AVs happening across the country should help attract bipartisan support for his new legislation.

"It has been challenging with this Republican majority for Democratic bills to move," he said. "There's a certain reality there, but this one, we've had fruitful conversations on the AV front because it really isn't viewed in a partisan context."

The proposed AV Emergency Response Coordination Act would impose some baseline safety standards and protocols, especially in emergencies. A lot of the protocols are already used by the San Francisco police and fire departments, but there are new potential issues with new driverless vehicles operated by Zoox. The company's new model doesn't have a steering wheel, so the fire department is considering new strategies.

"If there's a major incident, earthquake, we can use our fire engines, trucks, rescue squads to push it out of the way," San Francisco Fire Department Chief Dean Crispin said.

A spokesperson for Waymo said the company does support many of the features of the proposed legislation. In a prepared statement, Tiffany Moore, Waymo's head of federal policy and government affairs, said, in part, "Establishing minimum guidelines would provide the entire industry and public safety community with a consistent framework…"

Zoox did not immediately respond to NBC Bay Area's request for comment on the legislation.