Largest Labor Group Says Autonomous Trucks Need Drivers
The Transportation Trades Department for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is spending its Tuesday telling the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce subcommittee that autonomous vehicles. Though it’s not because they occasionally run amok when left to their own devices. This is a matter of jobs.
Labor leaders have become increasingly concerned by the massive layoffs that will likely accompany the proliferation of electric vehicles, which require fewer components to assemble. But AVs have played second fiddle until fairly recently, with truckers doing most of the heavy lifting themselves. Now, the ALF-CIO is getting in on the action and hoping to convince legislators to establish formal requirements for there to be a driver behind in the wheel of all commercial vehicles over 10,000 pounds.
However, considering the recent failure of the driverless Waymo van that was befuddled by traffic cones and ultimately tried to make a break for it when help arrived, it might be worth considering applying similar rules to all AVs. The Alphabet-owned (Google) firm has already started applying for permits to charge customers for rides in its self-driving vehicles, though the company ironically opted to stop using the term “self-driving” at the start of 2021.
Reuters has reported that this is also something that’s currently on the AFL-CIO’s radar. But it’s focusing on larger vehicles likely devoted to long-haul transportation and heavier loads.
“We do not allow passenger airplanes to operate without pilots or passenger rail to run without engineers, and we should use a similar approach with AVs that operate on our often-congested roadways and in complex transit networks,” reads prepared testimony of Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department for the AFL-CIO.
From Reuters:
Concerns raised by major unions, including the Teamsters, are one reason that legislation to grant U.S. regulators the power to exempt tens of thousands of self-driving cars from U.S. safety regulations has not been approved despite five years of efforts.
“We have seen the impacts of automation on other sectors — manufacturing, health care, and retail, to name a few — and the consequences when public policy fails to protect the workers and users it impacts,” Regan will tell lawmakers, also raising concerns about “alternative design vehicles such as delivery bots. Any vehicle that is under the 10,000-pound threshold that will travel on public roads must be properly regulated.”
[Image: Vitpho/Shutterstock]
Consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulations. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, he has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed about the automotive sector by national broadcasts, participated in a few amateur rallying events, and driven more rental cars than anyone ever should. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and learned to drive by twelve. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer and motorcycles.
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A really good semi truck driver is impressive to see on road trips (well-maintained equipment, impeccable lane discipline, always planning ahead, courteous despite the many idiots driving smaller vehicles).
It's always sad to see this. I'm old enough to remember the big hoo-hah when railroad unions fought to preserve the jobs of firemen on diesel locomotives (where they weren't needed). "Preserving jobs" that have become redundant or unnecessary is a dead-end, for everyone. (I'm not talking about preserving domestic jobs that have been sent overseas by companies engaging in labor arbitrage.). Better to figure out how to give these folks an "off-ramp" that minimizes the adverse effect on their families and, in the case of fixed-location jobs, communities. That said, I think the entire "autonomous driving" thing is a total crock. Thus far, autonomous vehicles have proved a danger to everyone in the vicinity. Even worse, there seems to be no particular understanding as to why these systems fail. The closest thing we have to autonomous driving today is passenger airliners where, for fuel efficiency reasons, the autopilot flies the plane almost the whole time. Even that has its downside as a number of crashes have been attributed to the pilots' degradation of "piloting skills" from having been essentially a passenger for so much of their time in flight.