Teamster-endorsed autonomous vehicle safety bills pass transportation committee

Yesterday, the California Senate Transportation Committee overwhelmingly passed two Teamsters-backed bills, Assembly Bill 2286 (AB 2286) and Assembly Bill 3061 (AB 3061), that would regulate autonomous vehicles (AVs) throughout the state. AB 2286 and AB 3061 are both part of the CARS legislative package on autonomous vehicles that the Teamsters are advocating for to protect good union jobs and public safety.

“Keeping roads safe and protecting our livelihoods are issues that everyone can get behind,” said Peter Finn, Teamsters Western Region International Vice President and President of Teamsters Joint Council 7. “It’s time to start passing these commonsense AV regulations instead of letting Big Tech call the shots.”

AB 2286 (formerly Assembly Bill 316) was introduced by Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry. It requires a trained human operator behind the wheel of self-driving trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds, which will preserve hundreds of thousands of good-paying trucking jobs and keep California roads safe. AB 3061, introduced by Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-17), requires AV companies to publicly report any vehicle collisions, traffic violations, disengagements, assaults, or harassment involving their vehicles to the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). The bill is critical to ensuring public transparency and accountability, especially since the California DMV has not tracked at-fault data for collisions involving AVs for several years.

Support for the CARS legislative package on AVs has grown amid ongoing scrutiny and technological failures. Earlier this month, Waymo recalled nearly 700 driverless cars after one of its vehicles hit a telephone pole, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation into Alphabet’s Waymo and Amazon’s Zoox following a series of safety incidents in May. Cruise was under investigation earlier this year after a deadly pedestrian crash in October. Meanwhile, local community members, including school crossing guards, continue to sound the alarm on AV safety concerns.

“The ongoing federal investigations into the largest autonomous vehicle companies are another proof point that autonomous vehicles are disasters waiting to happen,” said Chris Griswold, Teamsters International Vice President At-Large and President of Teamsters Joint Council 42. “It’s past time for California communities to get an opportunity to hold these companies accountable. The Teamsters will continue to fight for our members and put good union jobs and safety first.”

Currently in California, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the DMV have near total control of AV regulation but have failed to take proper action to prioritize safety and jobs amid the statewide AVs rollout. Even after a new study showed that more than 91 percent of U.S. drivers expressed fear or uncertainty with AVs, the CPUC and DMV both approved the expansion of robotaxis throughout the state.