California vetoes initiative requiring drivers in autonomous trucks

The governor of California (USA), Gavin Newsom, has vetoed a bill that would require the presence of human drivers in autonomous trucks, a measure that union leaders and truckers could save hundreds of thousands of jobs in the state.

The bill vetoed Friday night would have the circulation of autonomous cargo vehicles is prohibited over 10,000 pounds (4,536 kilograms)—from UPS delivery vans to huge cargo trucks—unless they had a person behind the wheel.

Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, head of the California Federation of Labor, said freight vehicles without human drivers are dangerous and said she was surprised by Newsom’s veto. She estimated that eliminating human drivers could cost a quarter of a million jobs in the state.

“We will not sit by while bureaucrats take sides with tech companies to trade our security and jobs for increased corporate profits. “We will continue to fight to ensure that robots do not replace human drivers and that technology is not used to destroy good jobs,” Fletcher said in a statement Friday night.

In a statement announcing that he will not authorize the bill, the Democratic governor said additional provisions for autonomous freight vehicles were unnecessary because current laws are sufficient.

Newsom cited a 2012 initiative that allows the state Department of Motor Vehicles to work with the California Highway Patrol, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration USA and “others with relevant expertise to determine the provisions necessary for the safe operation of autonomous vehicles on public roads.”

Opponents of the bill argued that autonomous vehicles already on the roads have not caused many serious accidents compared to those driven by people. According to companies, autonomous freight vehicles help them transport products more efficiently.