SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Assembly Transportation Committee on April 16 passed two Teamsters-supported bills — Assembly Bill 2286 (AB 2286) and Assembly Bill 3061 (AB 3061) — that would regulate autonomous vehicles (AVs) in the state.
AB 2286 and AB 3061 are part of the CARS legislative package on autonomous vehicles that the Teamsters are advocating for to protect jobs and public safety, alongside Senate Bill 915, which would require AV companies to secure local approvals prior to starting operations, according to a news release.
“The Teamsters applaud the elected leaders on the Assembly Transportation Committee who supported these bills to protect California’s streets and hold autonomous vehicle companies accountable,” said Chris Griswold, Teamsters International vice president at-large and president of Teamsters Joint Council 42. “From robotaxis to autonomous big rigs, AVs should not be operating on our roads without a human driver behind the wheel. We cannot trust AV companies to be transparent about their internal operations.”
AB 2286, formerly Assembly Bill 316, requires a trained human operator behind the wheel of self-driving trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds, which, the Teamsters contend, “will preserve hundreds of thousands of good-paying trucking jobs and keep California roads safe.”
AB 316 was first introduced by Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry in January 2023 and received bipartisan support in the legislature, with more than 90% of California lawmakers voting in favor of the legislation.
AB 3061, introduced by Assemblymember Matt Haney, would require AV companies to publicly report any vehicle collisions, traffic violations, disengagements, assaults or harassment involving their vehicles to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
“The bill is critical to ensuring public transparency and accountability, especially as AV companies fail to publicly report major incidents on California roads,” according to the news release. “The California DMV has not tracked at-fault data for collisions involving AVs for several years.”
SB 915 will receive a hearing in the California Senate Committee on Local Government on April 17.
Following the hearing, the committee members are expected to vote on the bill.
“The Teamsters are standing up to Big Tech and AV companies who only care about their profits, not about working people or public safety,” said Lindsay Dougherty, Teamsters Western Region international vice president and director of the Teamsters Motion Picture and Theatrical Trade Division. “Californians, and the people we elect to public office, have been sounding the alarm for over a year about the dangers of autonomous trucks and cars. It’s past time we get a say on how this unproven technology will impact our lives and our jobs.”
Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and raised in East Texas, John Worthen returned to his home state to attend college in 1998 and decided to make his life in The Natural State. Worthen is a 20-year veteran of the journalism industry and has covered just about every topic there is. He has a passion for writing and telling stories. He has worked as a beat reporter and bureau chief for a statewide newspaper and as managing editor of a regional newspaper in Arkansas. Additionally, Worthen has been a prolific freelance journalist for two decades, and has been published in several travel magazines and on travel websites.
