California Looks to Restrict Large Autonomous Vehicles, Require Human Operator

“We’ve seen the destruction that small robotaxis can cause, injuring pedestrians and preventing first responders from doing their job,” a proponent said.

A self-driving truck is pictured on a motorway, south of Stockholm, near Södertälje, Sweden, on Nov. 18, 2022. Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Images

California, again, is seeking to ban autonomous driving of trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds after lawmakers re-introduced legislation for such vehicles during a news conference in Sacramento Feb. 12.

Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguilar-Curry, whose bill over the same issue was vetoed last year by Gov. Gavin Newsom, said her new bill—Assembly Bill 2286—would protect good-paying trucker jobs for California workers and ensure safer streets as the new technology develops, according to a press release issued Feb. 13 by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents blue and white collar workers in the United States and Canada.