The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rejected a petition from autonomous trucking companies seeking to replace traditional warning devices used when a truck breaks down with cab-mounted beacons – a victory for The TWU which argued in 2023 the petition “would significantly diminish the safety of our roads.”
Autonomous vehicle companies Waymo and Aurora were seeking to exempt themselves from federal rules requiring large truck drivers to place safety triangles or flares behind their vehicle when it is broken down on the side of the road. They argued, unsuccessfully, that cab-mounted beacons were a sufficient replacement.
“The FMCSA ruling shows yet again the importance of human operators – whether they are operating a bus, train, or large truck,” said TWU International President John Samuelsen. “The TWU will continue to fight Big Tech whenever they argue that safety rules for everyone else shouldn’t apply to them.”
The TWU filed comments with the FMCSA in April of 2023, arguing Waymo and Aurora’s exemption request “is an overreach and intention misuse of the exemption process” and an attempt to “fix a business problem for the applicants through exemption from a safety standard without any justifiable safety explanation.”