Press Releases
Teamsters-Supported Autonomous Vehicle Bill Passes California State Assembly
Union Calls on State Senators to Support Middle-Class Jobs in California
Press Contact: Matt McQuaid Phone: (771) 241-0015 Email: mmcquaid@teamster.org
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) – The Teamsters-backed Assembly Bill 33 (AB33) passed the California Legislature’s lower chamber, and the union is calling on the state Senate to take up the bill. AB33, authored by Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, is a bipartisan initiative to require a trained human operator in any autonomous vehicle (AV) used to deliver commercial goods directly to residences or businesses.
“State lawmakers have an obligation to support workers and middle-class jobs, and that’s exactly what this legislation does,” said Peter Finn, President of Teamsters Joint Council 7 in San Francisco. “California is the front line of the war against Big Tech billionaires who want to destroy American jobs through automation. What happens here will impact millions of workers throughout the country.”
The ongoing effort to regulate driverless cars and trucks in California comes amid another wave of high-profile failures from AV startups. Within the past month, both Waymo and Zoox issued recalls following safety incidents, and the driverless truck company Aurora Innovation reinstated trained human operators back in their vehicles after less than three weeks of driving without them.
“We’ve seen enough of what automated driving actually looks like — it is dangerous, disastrous, and vastly inferior to a highly trained human operator,” said Chris Griswold, President of Teamsters Joint Council 42 in Pomona, Calif. “We can’t allow for a regulatory regime that replaces professional drivers with rudimentary navigation systems, but if we don’t pass AB33, that’s exactly where our state is headed. AB33 will protect workers, and the Teamsters strongly urge California legislators to swiftly take up this critical bill.”
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents over 1.3 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Visit Teamster.org for more information. Follow us on X @Teamsters and on Facebook at Facebook.com/teamsters.