Boston Taxi Drivers Union Wants a 'Human Safety Operator' in Commercial Autonomous Vehicles

There are two ways the artificial intelligence revolution could go: We can either choose door number one and embrace the changes and throw ourselves into creating new industries, new jobs, and a brand new world. Or we can choose door number two and work like the devil to protect the world as it is and be dragged kicking and screaming into what the world will inevitably be.

Boston taxi drivers have chosen what's behind door number two. 

It's a good thing that wheelwrights, blacksmiths, carriage makers, and saddlemakers didn't have a union 130 years ago. We'd still be employing people to shovel the horse manure off city streets.

"Waymo is steamrolling into cities throughout our country without concern for workers or residents. They're doing this because they want to make trillions of dollars by eliminating jobs," said Tom Mari, President of Teamsters Local 25, one of the unions advocating for new regulations. 

Boston City Councilors Erin Murphy and Henry Santana unveiled a proposed ordinance that would bar Waymo and other commercial autonomous vehicles from city streets until an "advisory committee," loaded with people who want to keep things the way they are, completes a study of the technology's impacts on traffic and, of course, employment.

When the advisory committee has finished its work and made its report, it will recommend to the mayor whether autonomous vehicles should be allowed to operate in the city at all.

Here's the kicker: Even if the mayor recommends that autonomous vehicles can operate in the city, they won't be "autonomous." Any permit for driverless taxis would have to require that the vehicle be staffed with a "human safety operator." 

Councilmember Santana is terrified of a "robotaxi takeover" and wants to make sure the future of Boston transportation is equitable and filled with working people at the center."

Have any of you actually met a Boston cab driver? Gimme the robot any day.

Reason.com:

Following that Thursday hearing, labor unions held a rally outside City Hall, decrying autonomous vehicles' potential impact on jobs and traffic.

Massachusetts law currently does not allow for autonomous vehicle operations.

In June, state lawmakers introduced two identical bills that would allow for driverless vehicles to operate in the state. The bills would require autonomous vehicles to be registered with the state and meet certain safety performance standards.

They would also require that vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or more be staffed with a human driver, but smaller autonomous vehicles would be expressly allowed to operate without one. And the bills would also preempt localities from prohibiting autonomous vehicles or even regulating them.

The unions shouldn't fret so. There are several steps that Waymo and other makers of driverless taxis will have to pass before any approval can begin.

Waymo human-driven vehicles are already mapping city streets in Boston and collecting other data. The next test stage would be taking autonomous test trips with a human safety operator and without customers. Driverless rides from employees would follow this before customers would be allowed in the vehicle.

Waymo offers driverless taxi services in Austin, Atlanta, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. The data so far suggests safer streets.

Boston appears unique in focusing its regulatory proposals almost entirely on Waymo's impact on protecting the jobs of unionized drivers.

The Teamsters union—which has been vocally pushing Boston officials to "pump the brakes" on autonomous vehicles—has pushed similar protectionist legislation requiring autonomous cars and trucks to have human drivers in states across the country.

In June, a Teamster-endorsed bill requiring autonomous vehicles to be staffed with a human driver passed the California Assembly.

I am all for companies testing the technology to ensure its safety. I am also in favor of cities convening boards and commissions of all concerned parties with equal voices to determine whether and how to proceed with driverless cars and taxis.

Certainly, the unions are well within their rights to protect the jobs of their members. But they don't have the right to run roughshod over city government, standing athwart progress that would make streets safer.

In the end, they're only hurting their members because they're not going to be able to stop what's coming. The momentum is on the side of revolutionary change, and they're only kidding themselves if they believe they can stop it. 

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