Despite receiving strong support from some, including disability rights advocates, a hearing in the Missouri House last week on a bill regulating self-driving technology revealed opposition from Teamsters, who cast the measure as a job killer that poses safety issues.
Criticisms of the bill — which were also leveled by a firefighter, a school bus driver and a trial attorney — offered a preview of potential legislative obstacles ahead, and possible public pushback to come, if the emerging technologies ultimately come online in Missouri.
"I'm sure a computer can drive a truck," said Jerry Wood, president of Teamsters Local 955 in Kansas City. "What I'm not sure of is (if) a computer can stop on the side of the road and look and see if the chain is loose on his load that's going to slide off."
Driverless trucks will take jobs — and not just from truck drivers, Wood said.
"Those drivers are spending money in our state at every truck stop, at every store and in their hometowns. And it's well-paying jobs that ... we will be getting rid of."
Bruce Frakes, political affairs representative for the Teamsters Local 41 in Kansas City, said truck drivers are responsible for completing pre-trip inspections and monitoring for issues while en route.
"If one of these (driverless trucks) is going all the way across the state of Missouri with no intention of stopping and no driver, there is a lot of equipment there that can go wrong," Frakes said.
State Rep. Don Mayhew, R-Crocker, the sponsor of one of the autonomous vehicles bills under consideration, said his legislation would allow for autonomous semitrucks, but he noted current technical limitations.
"There's obvious technical issues that have to be overcome before commercial vehicles — certainly cross-country 18-wheelers — could participate in this," Mayhew said.
Operating in Texas and Arizona, self-driving truck company Aurora Innovation Inc. said in October it had logged more than 100,000 driverless miles on public roads.
The chairman of the emerging issues committee, state Rep. Brad Christ, R-South St. Louis County, said he didn't want Missouri to stand against deployment of new technology.
"I care about the safety of all this, but again, I don't want to be the state in the middle of the country — the logistical heartbeat of the country — saying 'no' to this," he said at the hearing.
'I CAN JUST GO'
With some of the attention at last week's hearings focused on trucks, others took issue with the potential deployment of self-driving taxis. The measure is supported by robotaxi company Waymo, which says that through September, its fleet had traveled 127 million miles without a human driver.
Critics of the bill included a firefighter who said autonomous vehicles have a history of disrupting emergency responses, a school bus driver noting a Waymo vehicle passed a stopped school bus in Atlanta when the bus's stop sign and lights were flashing, and a trial attorney who worried about a person's ability to recover damages in the event of an accident.
Randy Alberhasky, an attorney from Springfield, said the bill classifies the driver of the vehicle as the "automated driving system," which is described as the hardware and software capable of operating the vehicle.
He said neither hardware nor software are legal entities.
"I can't sue a hardware. I can't sue a software. So there's no recovery there," he said.
Alberhasky said if an automated driving system acts negligently — if it takes a wrong turn, goes too fast or fails to use brakes — there's no redress against the system because there's no legal entity to sue.
Alberhasky said a plaintiff could pursue a products liability case but that such a case is a different cause of action and more difficult to pursue.
He said one scenario at issue involves someone who engages an automated system on their personal vehicle — programming a Tesla to speed or by using the automated system in inclement weather, when such systems are apt to fail. But because the automated system was in control, under the bill, the human operator wouldn't be held liable for negligence if there's a wreck and people are injured.
Lori Becker, chief executive officer of the Starkloff Disability Institute in St. Louis, said she is legally blind, has epilepsy and can't drive. The bill isn't a job killer, she said, because it would help people who are unable to drive get to work.
Becker said she had gone on 1,845 Uber rides since the company came to Missouri, spending about $77,000 on those rides.
"Help us get to work. Give us some more options," Becker said.
And Becker said many of her Uber drivers have come close to having an accident.
"I would feel even more safe being in a car independently," she said. "I don't have to rely on someone's judgment or availability or get their permission to get a ride somewhere. I can just go. And that's a right that we all deserve."
HOUSE VOTE PLANNED FOR TUESDAY
The measures have become a legislative priority — one of the first proposals House Speaker Jonathan Patterson, R-Lee's Summit, has referred to a committee this year.
A House Emerging Issues Committee vote to advance the bill closer to a debate and vote before the full House is scheduled for Tuesday.
Opponents are contending with a lobbying push in Jefferson City from Waymo, owned by Google parent Alphabet Inc.
The company announced plans in December to roll out its self-driving taxi service in St. Louis and says the legislation will provide it with the regulatory certainty to do so.
Waymo launched a political offensive last year in an effort to lay the groundwork for its expansion into St. Louis. It attracted supportive statements from top Missouri officials, including U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt and U.S. Rep. Wesley Bell.
Waymo's autonomous taxi technology is already on the road in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco and Austin, Texas.
The legislation is House Bill 2208 and House Bill 2069.
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