California, again, is seeking to ban autonomous driving of trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds after lawmakers re-introduced legislation for such vehicles during a news conference in Sacramento Feb. 12.

Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguilar-Curry, whose bill over the same issue was vetoed last year by Gov. Gavin Newsom, said her new bill—Assembly Bill 2286—would protect good-paying trucker jobs for California workers and ensure safer streets as the new technology develops, according to a press release issued Feb. 13 by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents blue and white collar workers in the United States and Canada.

“I’ve reintroduced this bill because the Legislature’s role is critical in deciding when autonomous trucking is safe and when there is a real plan for our trucking workers,” she said in the Teamsters announcement.

She said her attempts at the legislation have faced pushback from the autonomous trucking industry which she alleged is more concerned with profits over safety.

“The autonomous trucking industry has cast this bill as a ban on technology when it explicitly states that testing and deployment will happen with a Human Safety Operator. Using their logic, they’re the ones who support a ban. A ban on humans in trucks ... We will not stand by and let them put profits over people,” she said in the same announcement.

In his veto statement last year, the governor said the previous bill failed to account for some of the state’s regulations—including how DMV “continuously monitors” the industry for over a decade. In 2012, the California Legislature gave the authority to the Department of Motor Vehicles to oversee the development of the industry, cooperating with state law enforcement agencies.

“Autonomous vehicle technology is evolving and DMV remains committed to keeping our rules up-to-date to reflect its continued development in California,” Mr. Newsom said in his veto statement.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks in Los Angeles on Jan. 3, 2024. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

The Western Regional Vice President of the Teamsters, Peter Finn, also said in the recent announcement increasing accidents from self-driving taxis are one concern for proponents of AB 2286, who fear potential from the much larger trucks would be devastating.

“We’ve seen the destruction that small robotaxis can cause, injuring pedestrians and preventing first responders from doing their job. We cannot allow driverless vehicles weighing ten times that of a robotaxi onto our roads without a human operator. That’s why the Teamsters are calling on California policymakers to pass AB 2286,” he said.

Since Mr. Newsom’s veto last year, several incidents have called for an investigation into some self-driving vehicle companies, proponents of the bill said in the announcement. They pointed to the company Cruise, which operates self-driving taxis, which was involved in an incident last October where an autonomous driving car hit a woman and dragged her 20 feet in San Francisco. The woman was in the road after another driver hit her first, and fled, according to media reports.

The U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation into Cruise over the incident, and earlier this month another investigation was opened after vehicles for the company almost hit children in two separate incidents, advocates for the bill argued in the same announcement of the bill. A robotaxi for the company Waymo also recently struck a cyclist in San Francisco, the proponents said.

A Waymo autonomous vehicle on Steiner Street in San Francisco on Nov. 17, 2023. (Jason Henry/AFP via Getty Images)

One truck driver and Teamster’s union member, Julian Sandoval, additionally urged for the safety precautions proposed in the bill.

“Artificial Intelligence needs to be developed and implemented in a way that benefits everyone—not just wealthy shareholders who only care about the bottom line. So, I urge all California elected officials to please listen to professional drivers like me who operate this machinery every day,” he said in the announcement.

Representatives from the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association—the lead representative of the industry, which works with companies to promote safety—said, in their own announcement Feb. 9, they were disappointed to learn of the new bill.

“The autonomous vehicle industry agrees with Governor Gavin Newsom who concluded just a few months ago that a ban on autonomous trucks in California is ‘unnecessary.’ California’s expert safety regulators and law enforcement officials oversee the safe deployment of [autonomous vehicles] and consider appropriate regulatory action,” representatives for the association said.

They also said they look forward to continued cooperation with California lawmakers and truck drivers on the topic.

“Let’s be clear: California needs truck drivers and autonomous trucks, and both will thrive together in the future … Truck drivers and autonomous trucks will work together to support the state’s farmers, ranchers, manufacturers and small businesses,” they said.