The California Senate on Monday passed a bill requiring self-driving heavy-duty vehicles to have a trained human safety operator present when operating on the state's public roads, a blow to the self-driving truck industry. In fact, the bill and others say it bans driverless trucks.
The AB316 bill passed the Senate with 36 votes in favor and 2 votes against, but it still needs the signature of Governor Gavin Newsom before it can become law. Newsom has always been known to be friendly to the technology industry and is expected to veto AB316. In August, a senior adviser to the governor sent a letter to bill author Cecilia Aguiar-Curry opposing the legislation. Such restrictions on self-driving trucking would not only undermine existing regulations, but would also limit supply chain innovation and efficiency, hampering California's economic competitiveness, the letter said.
Advocates for the bill, first introduced in January, argued that tightening controls on autonomous trucks to remove safety drivers would protect California road users and keep truck drivers safe on the job.
"Self-driving car companies have lost billions of dollars in the autonomous vehicle space over the past few years and are now trying to appease investors by foisting unsafe, imperfect products on the public," TeamstersJointCouncil7 Chairman Jason Rabinowitz said in a statement. "These corporate elites have no regard for the safety and prosperity of the communities they endanger. Governor Newsom needs to do what is right now for the people of California, not these corporations."
Self-driving car companies and industry representatives said the bill would not only defeat the purpose of self-driving technology but also hinder the development of technology that could save lives. Opponents of AB316 pointed out that there were 5,788 truck crash fatalities in 2021, a 47% increase from 10 years ago. They compared that statistic to more than two years of reported zero fatalities caused by anti-vehicle trucks and tens of millions of miles driven on public roads.
Of course, almost all of those miles were driven by human safety operators.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles, the agency responsible for providing testing and deployment licenses for autonomous vehicles in the state, currently prohibits autonomous vehicles weighing more than 10,001 pounds from driving in the state. AB316 was enacted in response to the DMV lifting this ban. The bill prohibits the DMV from signing permits from autonomous trucking companies to remove drivers for testing or deployment purposes, a power the DMV has had since 2012.
The bill's authors have previously said they don't want to permanently prevent driverless trucks from entering California -- just until the Legislature is convinced it's safe enough to remove the driver.
Under the bill's language, the DMV will now be required to provide evidence of safety to policymakers. By Jan. 1, 2029, or five years after testing begins, whichever is later, the DMV is required to submit a report to the state evaluating the performance of autonomous vehicle technology and its impact on public safety and trucking industry jobs. The report will include information on disengagements and collisions, as well as recommendations on whether heavy-duty self-driving vehicles require human intervention to operate safely.
Once approved, the DMV will have to wait another year before issuing the permit. This means California won’t see driverless self-driving trucks on the road until 2030 at the earliest.
"The DMV opposes AB 316 because it will not improve safety and will, in fact, have a chilling effect on the development of technology designed to improve road safety in California," the DMV said in a statement.