Call To Ban Driverless Cars From New York Roads

UTA wants to restrict the use and development of autonomous vehicles, in a move said to be the most aggressive yet in this direction, potentially heralding more calls for similar action as fears over automation increase.

The call comes as New York state considers allowing ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft to operate throughout the state. Currently they are only allowed in New York City. Governor Andrew Cuomo has said that the state would embrace the services.

UTA fears that the adoption of these ridesharing services will in time transition to fully autonomous vehicles, threatening thousands of New Yorkers’ jobs. UTA wants assurances that these jobs will be protected before the ridesharing services are allowed throughout the state. Such jobs include taxi, livery, medical transportation, and paratransit fleets.

"It doesn't do anything for the local economy to have driverless cars," said John Tomassi, UTA president. "I'm sure there's a little bit of job creation, but nothing that will match the number of jobs lost.” Uber, which is testing driverless cars in Pittsburgh (and recently attempted to do so in San Francisco) has promised 13,000 jobs if it operates in upstate New York.

At the moment, it looks as if this call is falling on deaf ears, as legislation moves forward with no obvious move to protect current jobs. What UTA takes issue with is the fact that once Uber and similar companies operate in New York, the state then has less leverage to extract concessions from companies, such as driver protections. They see this leverage as being essential in the transition to self-driving cars.

Governor Cuomo faces a predicament as self-driving cars promise safer roads and lower fares that are more appealing to consumers, (as well as being new and innovative technology that it would be a benefit to be in the vanguard of) while employment could be at risk.