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.
ITEM OF THE MONTH
NO PREEMPTION: The TWU is taking aim at a Big Tech giveaway in the pending House and Senate Republican budget reconciliation bill that would impose a 10-year ban on states from protecting workers from the harms of artificial intelligence.
In letters to both the House and the Senate, TWU joined labor unions across the country to argue that a 10-year ban on state-level AI regulations will “leave everyone vulnerable to wide-ranging abuses stemming from irresponsible AI.” If enacted, this measure would end any state-level attempts to keep dangerous AI-enabled autonomous vehicles off their roads.
“This is yet another attempt by Big Tech to unleash unproven and dangerous autonomous vehicles on our roads without any safety oversight or accountability,” said TWU International President John Samuelsen. “During a time when the federal government isn’t doing its job to properly regulate AI deployments, it is reckless to shut down state attempts to protect residents from the improper or dangerous use of AI in transportation and across the economy and public agencies.”
Republicans and Democrats – both state legislators and attorneys general across the political spectrum – are urging Congress to strike this ban on state AI regulations. “State legislatures—working in a bipartisan fashion—have taken intentional and thoughtful action to build guardrails while making efforts not to stymie technological innovation. A federally imposed moratorium would not only paralyze this innovation but would also leave Americans exposed to emerging risks associated with the new technology,” state legislators wrote in a letter to Congress.
WHAT ELSE IS COOKING
CALIFORNIA CALAMITY: When major protests erupted in Los Angeles earlier this month, Waymos couldn’t get out of the way. Viral images of Waymos engulfed in flames spread across the world and were a reminder that driverless vehicles can become “sitting ducks” as NBC News reported. The unattended Waymos left in the middle of areas that were under a city-imposed curfew are the latest example of driverless technology not being ready for complicated driving environments. Robotaxis have previously driven through active crime scenes and blocked first responders.
“Driverless cars became sitting ducks in a dangerous environment – another example of why having human operators is essential,” said TWU International Administrative Vice President Curtis Tate.
Waymo service in San Francisco was also suspended during recent protests. But while transit options within the affected areas were up and running within hours of the protests subsiding, with TWU members providing bus and rail service throughout the city, Waymo users posted to social media screenshots of Waymos avoiding huge swaths of the city days after the protests ended.
“Ultimately, Big Tech sees driverless cars as replacing rideshare drivers first before moving on to public transit systems,” Tate said. “But what we’ve seen in Los Angeles and San Francisco should be a wake up call for elected officials and transit agencies – the cars are easy targets for violence in areas where they should be removed and the tech companies themselves don’t trust their tech enough to restart rides while transit workers are able to get cities up and running again within hours of civil unrest subsiding.”
Beyond the protests, driverless cars are also causing everyday problems. In Santa Monica, residents became fed up with Waymos hogging parking spots while charging and incessant beeping from cars as they constantly moved around parking lots. Residents took matters into their own hands, blocking a parking lot with cones and cars to keep Waymos away. In response, Waymo called the police, according to KTLA. The Los Angeles times has more.
The issues haven’t stopped Waymo from continuing to expand. The company announced later in June that rides are now available over a larger swath of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Silicon Valley.
BIG TRUCK WANTS MORE: The trucking lobby is continuing to pressure federal regulators to eliminate restrictions on driverless trucks that are intended to promote safety, Freight Waves reports. In May, the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association wrote to DOT urging FMCSA to update hours-of-service and inspection requirements that currently require action by a human – and are additionally continuing to fight a ruling on roadside service devices that requires a human to place safety triangles behind a disabled truck on the side of the road. The TWU successfully fought to keep the current requirements in place and the FMCSA ruled against the autonomous trucking industry on the matter in January.
IN THE NEWS: TWU International President John Samuelsen was quoted in a recent New York Times story on the expansion of autonomous trucking, noting that a fast proliferation is “potentially dangerous from a safety perspective” but the industry is still moving quickly “like a freaking Corvette, doing zero to 60.”
DRIVERLESS CARS IN MICHIGAN: Ann Arbor-based May Mobility announced that its autonomous Toyota Sienna minivans will be available for booking on Uber by the end of 2025, starting in Texas. Currently, May Mobility operates on a smaller scale in markets like its home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where TWU members at Local 171 currently provide transit service. The company also has its sites on autonomous buses, Axios reports, seeking to deploy autonomous 30 person minibuses by 2026.
“We will stay vigilant to ensure that TWU Bus Operators and Mechanics in cities like Ann Arbor aren’t pushed out in favor of unproven tech,” Tate said. “We’ve already won contract language giving us veto power over autonomous buses in Ohio, and we intend to push for similar contract language around the country.”
TESLA TURMOIL: Tesla robotaxis are now on the road in Austin, and within a day of launching a series of viral videos showed the autonomous cars driving erratically – and spurring the federal government to investigate. In one instance, a Tesla robotaxi breaked hard in the middle of traffic and in a vehicle drove down the wrong side of the road in another video. The launch comes as local officials in Texas worry about the proliferation of robotaxis in a state where local municipalities are prohibited by the state from imposing rules on their usage.
“It’s been very frustrating on our end from a safety standpoint,” Austin Police Lieutenant William White told the Dallas Morning News. “If these machines are learning, they’re not learning at a quick enough pace for sure.”
AIR LOS ANGELES: When athletes from around the world converge on Los Angeles for the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, Archer Aviation will serve as the official airtaxi provider of LA28, in addition to showcasing its service in conjunction with the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2027 Super Bowl, both in Los Angeles.
LA28 announced that through its partnership with Archer, they will “look to integrate Archer’s Midnight eVTOL aircraft across the LA28 Games in a variety of ways, such as transporting VIPs, fans, and stakeholders, while electrifying vertiport take-off-and-landing hubs for key venues and providing support for emergency services and security.” Archer plans to serve the Olympics and Paralympics from several so-called “vertiports” located at several adjacent locations.
So-called eVTOL, or electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, remains an unproven technology that takes off and lands like a helicopter and flies like a plane. The Archer version is an all-electric 4-seater that has yet to receive all certifications from the Federal Aviation Administration. Some eVTOL developers contemplate running airtaxi service without a pilot onboard with airtaxi development plans targeting cities across the country including New York City, Miami and San Francisco.
WHAT WE’RE READING:
United Nations Warns Driverless Cars Could Be Terrorist Targets. The Times UK.
Rail Track Inspections by AI-Enabled Tech? Trains.
Google Gemini AI Chatbot in Volvo Cars. The Verge.