\n
In a blow to the autonomous trucking industry, the California Senate passed a bill Monday that requires a trained human safety operator to be present any time a self-driving, heavy-duty vehicle operates on public roads in the state. In effect, the bill bans driverless AV trucks.<\/p>\n
AB 316, which passed the senate floor with 36 votes in favor and two against,\u00a0still needs to be signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom before it becomes law. Newsom has a reputation for being friendly to the tech industry, and is expected to veto AB 316. In August, one of the governor\u2019s senior advisers wrote a letter to Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, the bill\u2019s author, opposing the legislation. The letter said such restrictions on autonomous trucking would not only undermine existing regulations, but could also limit supply chain innovation and effectiveness and hamper California\u2019s economic competitiveness.<\/p>\n
Advocates of the bill, first introduced in January, argue that having more control over the removal of safety drivers from autonomous trucks would protect California road users and ensure job security for truck drivers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAV companies\u00a0have lost billions of dollars in the self-driving vehicle space over the last few years and are now trying to appease their investors by imposing unsafe, inadequate products on the public,\u201d said Jason Rabinowitz, president of Teamsters Joint Council 7, in a statement. \u201cThese corporate elites have no regard whatsoever for the safety or prosperity of the communities they will put in harm\u2019s way. Gov. Newsom needs to do right by Californians \u2014 not these companies \u2014 immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
AV companies and industry representatives say the bill would not only defeat the purpose of driverless technology, but it would also hinder the advancement of technology that can save lives. Opponents of AB 316 point to the 5,788 truck crash fatalities that occurred in 2021, a 47% increase over 10 years. They compare that statistic to the zero fatalities caused by AV trucks in over two years of reporting and tens of millions of miles driven on public roads.<\/p>\n
Of course, almost all of those miles driven had a human safety operator behind the wheel.<\/p>\n
The California Department of Motor Vehicles, the agency tasked with providing testing and deployment permits for AVs in the state, currently has a ban on AVs weighing over 10,001 pounds in the state. AB 316 was written in anticipation of the DMV lifting that ban. It blocks\u00a0the agency from being able to sign off on autonomous trucking companies removing the driver for testing or deployment purposes,\u00a0power the agency has held since 2012.<\/p>\n
The authors of the bill previously told they don\u2019t want to stop driverless trucking from reaching California in perpetuity \u2014 just until the legislature is convinced it\u2019s safe enough to remove the driver.<\/p>\n
Per the bill\u2019s language, the DMV will now need to provide evidence of safety to policymakers. By January 1, 2029, or five years after testing begins (whichever is later), the DMV will need to submit a report to the state to evaluate the performance of AV technology and its impact on public safety and employment in the trucking sector. The report will include information like disengagements and crashes, as well as a recommendation on the need for human safety operators in heavy-duty AVs.<\/p>\n
After approval, the DMV will have to wait another year before issuing permits. That means California might not see autonomous trucks operating with no human in the front seat until 2030 at the earliest.<\/p>\n
\u201cDMV opposes AB 316 because it will not increase safety and will, in fact, have a chilling effect on the development of technology in California that is intended to result in increased safety benefits on our roadways,\u201d said the DMV in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a blow to the autonomous trucking industry, the California Senate passed a bill Monday that requires a trained human safety operator to be present any time a self-driving, heavy-duty vehicle operates on public roads in the state. In effect, the bill bans driverless AV trucks. AB 316, which passed the senate floor with 36 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"\n
California bill to ban driverless autonomous trucks goes to Newsom's desk - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/12\/california-bill-to-ban-driverless-autonomous-trucks-goes-to-newsoms-desk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California bill to ban driverless autonomous trucks goes to Newsom's desk - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a blow to the autonomous trucking industry, the California Senate passed a bill Monday that requires a trained human safety operator to be present any time a self-driving, heavy-duty vehicle operates on public roads in the state. In effect, the bill bans driverless AV trucks. AB 316, which passed the senate floor with 36 […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/12\/california-bill-to-ban-driverless-autonomous-trucks-goes-to-newsoms-desk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-12T11:38:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Option-4.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/12\/california-bill-to-ban-driverless-autonomous-trucks-goes-to-newsoms-desk\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/12\/california-bill-to-ban-driverless-autonomous-trucks-goes-to-newsoms-desk\/\",\"name\":\"California bill to ban driverless autonomous trucks goes to Newsom's desk - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/12\/california-bill-to-ban-driverless-autonomous-trucks-goes-to-newsoms-desk\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/12\/california-bill-to-ban-driverless-autonomous-trucks-goes-to-newsoms-desk\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Option-4.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-12T11:38:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-12T11:38:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/6f91dab2e50bbbfe895c93e7e84e7f74\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/12\/california-bill-to-ban-driverless-autonomous-trucks-goes-to-newsoms-desk\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/12\/california-bill-to-ban-driverless-autonomous-trucks-goes-to-newsoms-desk\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/12\/california-bill-to-ban-driverless-autonomous-trucks-goes-to-newsoms-desk\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Option-4.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Option-4.jpeg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":400},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/12\/california-bill-to-ban-driverless-autonomous-trucks-goes-to-newsoms-desk\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"California bill to ban driverless autonomous trucks goes to Newsom’s desk\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/6f91dab2e50bbbfe895c93e7e84e7f74\",\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ghana News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/author\/ghanamma\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"California bill to ban driverless autonomous trucks goes to Newsom's desk - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/12\/california-bill-to-ban-driverless-autonomous-trucks-goes-to-newsoms-desk\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"California bill to ban driverless autonomous trucks goes to Newsom's desk - Ghanamma.com","og_description":"In a blow to the autonomous trucking industry, the California Senate passed a bill Monday that requires a trained human safety operator to be present any time a self-driving, heavy-duty vehicle operates on public roads in the state. In effect, the bill bans driverless AV trucks. AB 316, which passed the senate floor with 36 […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/12\/california-bill-to-ban-driverless-autonomous-trucks-goes-to-newsoms-desk\/","og_site_name":"Ghanamma.com","article_published_time":"2023-09-12T11:38:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Option-4.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ghana News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ghana News","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/12\/california-bill-to-ban-driverless-autonomous-trucks-goes-to-newsoms-desk\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/12\/california-bill-to-ban-driverless-autonomous-trucks-goes-to-newsoms-desk\/","name":"California bill to ban driverless autonomous trucks goes to Newsom's desk - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/12\/california-bill-to-ban-driverless-autonomous-trucks-goes-to-newsoms-desk\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/12\/california-bill-to-ban-driverless-autonomous-trucks-goes-to-newsoms-desk\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Option-4.jpeg","datePublished":"2023-09-12T11:38:29+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-12T11:38:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/6f91dab2e50bbbfe895c93e7e84e7f74"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/12\/california-bill-to-ban-driverless-autonomous-trucks-goes-to-newsoms-desk\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/12\/california-bill-to-ban-driverless-autonomous-trucks-goes-to-newsoms-desk\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/12\/california-bill-to-ban-driverless-autonomous-trucks-goes-to-newsoms-desk\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Option-4.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Option-4.jpeg","width":600,"height":400},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/12\/california-bill-to-ban-driverless-autonomous-trucks-goes-to-newsoms-desk\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"California bill to ban driverless autonomous trucks goes to Newsom’s desk"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/6f91dab2e50bbbfe895c93e7e84e7f74","name":"Ghana News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ghana News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023"],"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/author\/ghanamma\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}