The Teamsters of California is calling for the suspension of Waymo’s operations in the state amid growing safety and job security concerns.
The union, which has 250,000 members across dozens of industries, called on the California Public Utilities Commission on Monday to indefinitely suspend the driverless car company’s license to operate. The demand comes less than two weeks after a Waymo self-driving taxi struck a child near a Santa Monica elementary school, triggering a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation.
In a statement, Teamsters California co-chairs Peter Finn and Victor Mineros called the incident a “horrifying wake-up call for California policymakers who have repeatedly ignored the growing list of red flags concerning robotaxis.”
The child, who ran out from behind a large SUV to cross the street, wasn’t injured in the collision. The Waymo had been traveling at 17 miles per hour before the child appeared and reduced its speed to 6 miles per hour before contact was made.
“We are committed to improving road safety, both for our riders and all those with whom we share the road,” Waymo said in a statement last week about the accident. “Our peer-reviewed model shows that a fully attentive human driver in this same situation would have made contact with the pedestrian at approximately 14 mph.”
Waymo has been the subject of previous NHTSA investigations and recalls following collisions. In December, motionless Waymo vehicles clogged San Francisco streets after a power outage.
“Imagine a scenario where more and more of these vehicles are on the street and there’s an earthquake,” said Finn of Teamsters California in an interview. “There’s people trying to evacuate, there’s emergency response, and these things can’t move at all.”
Waymo also poses a threat to Californians who depend on driving jobs for their livelihood, Finn said. As the race to master autonomous vehicle technology heats up, the union is concerned that companies will eliminate human jobs to lower labor costs.
A statewide poll conducted last year by Teamsters California found that more than 80% of respondents were concerned about the impact of AI and automation on job availability.
“This incident is emblematic of the broader goal Big Tech companies have to replace skilled human labor with AI … and force our communities to reckon with the fallout of automation’s shortcomings,” the Teamsters’ statement said.
Kodiak AI, a Mountain View-based tech company, is developing autonomous semi trucks it says will improve safety and efficiency on the roads. Tesla is also working on its robotaxi technology, and Elon Musk has shared ambitions for self-driving cargo trucks.
Teamsters California is leading a legislative effort to require a human operator to be present in autonomous commercial delivery vehicles at all times.
Autonomous trucks could be a safety hazard and could eliminate thousands of jobs, the union said. Driving jobs are among the most common jobs.
“The stakes get even higher when we’re talking about trucks and delivery vehicles,” Finn said. “It feels like the regulators, in this case CPUC and the Department of Motor Vehicles, should have to do more to get a handle on this.”
