This is the monthly edition of the Transport Workers Union’s Transportation Technology Newsletter. We aim to inform and educate our members, the labor movement, the public and policymakers about developments in transportation technology – and what the TWU is doing to ensure that new technology doesn’t undermine safety or harm the livelihoods of hard-working blue-collar workers. For suggestions and questions, please email ewytkind@gmail.com or adaugherty@twu.org.
The TWU Transportation Technology Newsletter will take a one month hiatus in February. We will be back in your inboxes in March.
ITEM OF THE MONTH
TWU AT CES: TWU leaders were on hand at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where the latest developments in automated transportation – and threats to jobs everywhere – were on full display. TWU International Secretary-Treasurer Jerome Lafragola and Administrative Vice President Curtis Tate saw what they described as “more refined” developments in autonomous vehicles.
“These things are evolving, first they looked robotic and now they are adding these luxury elements to them,” Tate said. “These companies keep talking about how they’ve updated their guidance systems and computer matrixes and stuff that’s supposed to make things better but when you won’t stop for a school bus or you take people into a cordoned off police or fire area your technology isn’t what it’s supposed to be.”
Tate and Lafragola said they witnessed automation coming for every sector of the economy while attending CES, with human-esque robots walking around the convention floor. They both said organized labor will play a pivotal role in pushing for laws and regulations that ensure a pro-worker future, instead of letting Big Tech achieve their ultimate goals of slashing labor costs to the bone.
“It’s the labor movement’s job to identify and put in the forefront that technology is awesome when used in conjunction with workers to make things safe or efficient but it’s not cool when it just takes jobs,” Lafragola said.
Lafragola noted that there were “a lot more” autonomous vehicle concepts on display compared to previous CES editions and Business Insider editors declared that CES at this point “has become a car show as much as it remains a tech show.” 
WHAT ELSE IS COOKING
WAYMO IN THE WAY: A blackout in San Francisco last month that left traffic lights in the dark came with the added headache of stationary Waymo vehicles blocking traffic across the city, according to multiple media reports. While out-of-commission traffic lights are intended to be treated as four-way stop signs, the Waymo vehicles were unable to adjust and San Francisco resident Matt Schoolfield told CNBC the vehicles “were just stopping in the middle of the street.”
“San Francisco residents are, yet again, a testing ground for Big Tech billionaires,” said TWU International President John Samuelsen. “While TWU members worked hard to get transit up and running throughout the city, Waymos served as an impediment to first responders and residents trying to make their way around the city. A ‘software update’ doesn’t cut it. If autonomous vehicles essentially go dark when traffic lights become inoperable, the technology is nowhere near ready for mass adoption across the country.”
A Waymo spokesperson said the blackout ‘overwhelmed’ their vehicles’ ability to safely drive and caused the fleet to be parked. The company said, as it has after other instances of bad press such as blowing past stopped school buses, that a ‘software update’ will fix the problem. Color us skeptical.
AUTOPILOT PROBLEMS: A family in Washington state alleged in a January 8, 2026, lawsuit that Tesla is, according to news accounts, “partly liable” for a crash involving a motorcycle and a Tesla vehicle operating in ‘Autopilot’, a feature that has drawn significant scrutiny from federal safety regulators. The motorcyclist died tragically in the accident.
“Had the Tesla [Autopilot] system worked as Elon Musk has touted for years, this collision would never have occurred,” said Simeon Osborn, the attorney for the family.
“Tesla tells people that their cars can do more than they do, and people believe it,” the father of the victim told the Seattle Times. And that’s what we want to avoid — having people believe a lie — because Tesla’s cars ain’t safe.”
DRIVERLESS BUS IN ATLANTA, BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE FEDS: The Federal Transit Administration is pumping over $6 million from the federal Low or No Emission Grant Program into an autonomous shuttle in Metro Atlanta that will link the Cumberland Autonomous Mobility (CAM) Network with the CobbLinc transit system.
The initial planned deployment is eight 12-15 passenger ADA-accessible AV shuttles operated by Beep Inc. servicing Truist Park and The Battery Atlanta, where the Atlanta Braves play, as well as the Cobb Convention Center, the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre and other locations. Leaders of this initiative say the service will launch in 2027 and will provide first- and last-mile service in connection with the area’s transit system.
“A reminder to Metro Atlanta officials: transit services without a human operator onboard can be dangerous when the technology fails or when there are unruly passengers or road and weather emergencies,” said TWU Administrative Vice President Curtis Tate. “Operators do not just drive the vehicle – they are first responders and they make sure the passengers are safe. No robotic shuttle or bus can perform those safety duties.”
WHAT WE’RE READING
Ford Unveiling Eyes-Free Truck in 2028? Inside EVs.