Fans of driverless trucks say that the technology won’t eliminate jobs for truck drivers.
However, Cole Scandaglia, deputy director of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, told members of a Senate committee what many truck drivers are thinking.
“I don’t think we disagree with the notion that we’re not going to see an influx of driverless trucks in every fleet across America tomorrow,” Scandaglia said. “We’re not going to see hundreds of thousands of people lose their jobs next week. I think anyone who is being rational about that can agree. Where I think we disagree somewhat is that if this technology hits the primetime – at whatever point that may be – we’re concerned … I think it is ahistoric to suggest that employers at some point in time will have the ability to eliminate their labor cost in totality or in large part and decide not to do it. That’s what concerns my members.”
The remarks came during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on Tuesday, June 9. The hearing focused on transportation innovation and technology.
Of course, this led to quite a bit of conversation about autonomous vehicles and driverless trucks. American Trucking Associations President Chris Spear testified favorably to the potential of autonomous trucks.
“ATA believes autonomous trucks will improve supply chain efficiency while giving truck drivers greater flexibility in choosing their preferred routes,” Spear wrote in his submitted testimony. “AVs are one of many tools for the trucking industry to meet the growing and changing demands of our economy without replacing the truck driving profession.”
The Teamsters provided a more skeptical view, asking lawmakers “to consider the economic impacts of mass deployment of unregulated autonomous vehicles on your constituents,” Scandaglia wrote. “The single most common occupation for men in the United States without a college degree is truck drivers and driver/sales workers. It is not a credible claim to assume that if given the opportunity, employers will only seek to automate small segments of the industry when the primary motivating factor behind AV deployment is the elimination of labor costs.”
The use of autonomous trucks is becoming increasingly prevalent. This week, PepsiCo and Gatik announced a partnership to bring autonomous freight into PepsiCo’s North America food and beverage supply chain. According to PepsiCo, the partnership marks the largest commercial autonomous freight deployment to date.
ATA and the Teamsters both urged Congress to establish a federal framework for autonomous vehicles.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has also spoken out against efforts to allow autonomous trucking companies to self-certify.
Additionally, OOIDA told the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration not to exempt autonomous trucking companies from a regulation that truck drivers have had to follow for years. Aurora, the company seeking the exemption, hopes to expand its current fleet of about 100 trucks to 200 by the end of 2026 and into the thousands over the next five years. LL
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