The Governor of California banned the use of Driverless trucks

Motion to Delete AB316: Driverless Trucks Can’t Drive Without a Length-Less Human Attendant

The bill was vetoed by the governor who said that it would have required human attendants in the car over 10,000 pounds. The bill saw broad support among state legislators and was backed by the Teamsters and other labor organizations. At the moment.

California banned the use of driverless trucks to protect residents from tech that isn’t ready for prime time. Mike Di Bene is a truck driver of 30 years, he had to cross three lanes to get his truck under control after it blew a perfectly good tire. He isn’t sure if self-drive trucks can handle these situations.

According to the email, the Department of Motor Vehicles asked interested stakeholders to help craft future laws surrounding self-drive vehicles. The department, he added, will seek public comment following “transparent, public” rulemaking with “subject matter experts and other stakeholders.”

State senators endorsed it and two of them did not, and the assembly members approved it by consensus on May 31st.

The veto of the bill by Sean O’Brien, who is president of the Teamsters, gives a green light to put dangerous rigs on the road.

After vetoing the bill, Newsom wrote that he would ask the Labor and Workforce Department to work with stakeholders to recommend ways to mitigate the damage self-driving trucks may have.

Companies developing the technology say it will save freight shippers money by enabling trucks to run loads on highways 24 hours a day, and by eliminating the dangers of distracted human driving, which could bring down insurance costs.

The Teamsters union, which represents tens of thousands US truck drivers, mechanics, and other freight workers, organized a mass caravan to Sacramento this week to urge Newsom to sign AB316, which would have required a safety driver on self-driving trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds through at least the end of the decade.

In the South and West, dry weather is ideal for the development of technology that will allow trucks to drive autonomously. None of the companies that are testing self driving trucks in the US has taken out safety drivers, who are trained to take over when the vehicle goes wrong. (The controversial company TuSimple says it has completed a handful of completely driverless truck demonstrations in the US; it has since paused its US operations.)