Boston Teamsters to Waymo: Hit the Brakes

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Teamsters

Union, Coalition Calls for AV Accountability at City Hall

(BOSTON) – Teamsters were joined by a union coalition and elected officials in Government Center yesterday to demand regulation for Waymo and other Autonomous Vehicle (AV) companies before they are allowed to operate in the city.

Both at a hearing and a rally outside of City Hall, the coalition called for the passage of an ordinance — sponsored by Boston City Councilors Henry Santana and Erin Murphy — to study the impact AVs will have on the economy, traffic, and public safety. The ordinance would also create an advisory board composed of trade unionists and other stakeholders to assess those findings, which would guide any future rules for AV operators in the city.

“The Big Tech companies putting driverless cars and trucks on our road like to describe themselves as people who are building some sort of utopia, but nothing could be further from the truth,” said Tom Mari, President of Teamsters Local 25. “Waymo is steamrolling into cities throughout our country without concern for workers or residents. They’re doing this because they want to make trillions of dollars by eliminating jobs.”

Waymo is currently mapping Boston streets and pushing a bill in the Massachusetts State House that would allow it to expand into the Commonwealth. The efforts come despite the fact that Waymo is being federally investigated, has issued multiple safety recalls, and has been involved in hundreds of accidents throughout the country.

Press Contact: Matt McQuaid Phone: [phone] Email: [e-mail]


Read more: https://teamster.org/2025/07/boston-teamsters-to-waymo-hit-the-brakes/

[CloudWatcher]

1. Who goes to jail?

Remind me again who goes to jail when one of these AVs kills someone?

[Igel]

2. The right case hasn't occurred yet.

https://www.damfirm.com/waymo-accident-statistics.html

Presumably it would be any test driver present and who's responsible for the accident. So far, apart from a dog, no fatalities (unless in the last 7 months). And even then, there's a class of accidents that really make it hard to think of the driver as guilty of anything short of lacking omniscience. See link, there's a discussion there. In brief: It's complicated. (But then again, legal liability in accidents often is, whatever quick judgments made by 4th-hand observers may decide).

I'm no fan of autonomous vehicles, but I find the press release by the Teamsters to be, as expected, advocacy.

[Polybius]

3. Depends who's fault it was

Statistically speaking, it's usually not its fault. But alas, if a drunk driver plows into one, people automatically blame the AV without hearing the facts first.

[CloudWatcher]

4. But if it is the AV's fault?

Say the AV gets a random bit-flip (static discharge or a lightning strike or a gamma ray), and it drives into a crowd of people at full speed and kills several.

Do we send the car to jail for manslaughter? Or every EE and software engineer that worked on the design? Or the sales people that assured us that it's safer than human drivers? Or nobody, because the fine-print in some contract says that failures by the AV are considered to be acts-of-god and not anyone's fault?

I don't think I'm a Luddite (I have a MS in Computer Science), but I seriously hate the idea of AV's on the open road.

The high tech mantra of 'move fast and break things' has some negative implications here.

[Polybius]

5. It would have to be proven that it was programed with extreme carelessness and incompetence

I can understand not liking autonomous vehicles in 2025, although we've come a long way in the last 5-10 years. However, in time they will be better than any human. There are 5 levels of vehicle autonomy. We are currently only at Level 2. Once we reach 4, I will jump in the back seat, take a nap, and let my car take me from NY to PA.