Washington, DC – Larry Willis, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) issues this statement opposing the SELF DRIVE Act:
“The SELF DRIVE Act, which is designed to facilitate the early deployment of self-driving vehicles on our roads, fails to adequately address the long-term impacts this technology will have on American workers and safety. Enabling new technology without provisions in place to protect good jobs and promote the wellbeing of the traveling public is a mistake we cannot afford to make.
“Furthermore, we are in the midst of a global pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 Americans, infected millions more, and continues to leave record numbers of Americans wondering how they are going to pay for groceries and rent. Now is not the time to consider half-baked automated vehicle legislation that benefits only a handful of Silicon Valley executives. Transportation Labor opposes this legislation and encourages Congress to do the same.”