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TWU to House Committee: Autonomous Vehicles Legislation Must Prioritize Safety & Union Jobs
TWU International President John Samuelsen told the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the union will “work against” legislation that “fails to properly regulate autonomous vehicles, preserve our safety standards, and sustain and create good, union jobs.” TWU’s letter to the committee can be found here.
The Committee held a hearing on draft legislation intended to pave the way for more widespread development and deployment of AV technology. TWU has been a national leader in making the case against allowing unsafe, poorly regulated AVs on our roads and in our public transportation systems.
Rep. Debbie Dingell’s (D-MI) worked-centered and pro-safety AV legislation “prioritizes pro-worker technologies, holds AV companies accountable for proving their products are truly safe, and makes it clear that commercial AVs will need to live up to the high standards working people have created for safety,” Samuelsen said. “The potential negative consequences for public transportation demand meaningful input and involvement from all stakeholders, especially frontline workers who operate and maintain these systems on a daily basis.”
Another Tesla in the Highly Criticized “Full Self-Driving” Mode Crashes in San Francisco
watch the video here.
Eve Air Mobility, United Airlines Plan San Francisco eVTOL AirTaxi Network
United Airlines and its partner, Eve Air Mobility, have announced the 2026 launch of a new Airtaxi network in the San Francisco region even though federal regulators have not determined how or if these electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) aircraft can be safely integrated into airspace and our complex transportation system. eVTOL test flights have crashed with some regularity.
The Federal Aviation Administration is beginning to give the nod to this industry by issuing restricted special air worthiness certificates that the agency says are for “research and development purposes.” So far Archer and Joby have received such certificates.
San Francisco Fire Chief Says Autonomous Vehicles Interfering with Firefighting
Autonomous vehicles are interfering with firefighting in San Francisco where the Fire Chief warned that “someone is going to get really severely injured or killed because we cannot properly respond to an incident.” In several incidences, first responders have reported AVs literally rolling into response scenes, including those with tape meant to block all traffic.
“World’s First” Autonomous Ferry Debuts in Sweden
What is billed as the world’s first autonomous, emission-free commercial passenger ferry launched June 8 in Stockholm, Sweden. A human operator will be onboard initially to monitor the service but the startup company that built the vessel and the ferry company claim it will run “fully autonomously with an onshore supervisor by 2024.”
Solar will power the electric propulsion system for a pool of vessels that the makers of this technology claim will be supervised by a “single onshore supervisor.”
WHAT WE’RE READING
Which Jobs Will AI Kill? Computer World
It’s 100 Degrees Out, What’s Happening to Your EV’s Battery? Fast Company
Commercial Driverless Car Rental Service in UK MFKM.com