Teamsters in Multiple States Want Waymo Robotaxis and Other Autonomous Vehicles Banned
Teamsters in multiple states want Waymo’s operating license suspended. The powerful union is also demanding that all autonomous vehicles have human operators.
In a statement released this week, Peter Finn and Victor Mineros, co-chairs of Teamsters California, demanded that Waymo’s operating license be suspended indefinitely by the California Public Utilities Commission. They cited an autonomous Waymo vehicle recently hitting a child at an elementary school.
“Waymo vehicles have continued to illegally ignore school bus stop signs despite a company-wide software recall and another, separate NHTSA investigation,” the Teamster California co-chairs wrote. “Parents, teachers, school workers, and community members have been demanding that these vehicles be kept away from school zones. Waymo and its parent company, Google, choose to ignore those warnings.
“In the interest of protecting our communities and working-class prosperity, the Teamsters are calling on the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to indefinitely suspend Waymo’s license to operate in the state. Being a parent is hard enough — nobody should have to worry about a driverless car putting their child in danger. The CPUC must do its job and intervene now, because the next incident could be much worse.”
Teamsters in several states are pushing for legislation against autonomous vehicles
In June 2025, Teamsters and a union coalition held a rally outside the Massachusetts State House and at a hearing in the Massachusetts General Court Joint Committee on Transportation. They were calling on the state’s lawmakers to pass a bill requiring human operators in all autonomous vehicles. They cited a federal investigation, multiple safety recalls, and hundreds of accidents nationwide. Teamsters in Oregon and Texas have also sought similar legislation.
“The only reason Waymo and other AV companies invest in this technology is so they can get rich by destroying the livelihoods of millions of workers,” said Tom Mari, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Joint Council 10 and president of Teamsters Local 25. “Our elected officials have a responsibility to support the middle class. They can do that by killing the Big Tech bill and requiring human operators in driverless cars and trucks.”
Meanwhile, in Washington DC…
On Wednesday, executives from Waymo and Tesla were on Capitol Hill urging U.S. senators to pass legislation regulating autonomous vehicles. Senators also peppered the executives with questions about the potential benefits of self-driving cars, their safety issues, legal liability, remote operation, and ongoing partnerships with Chinese companies, according to Automotive World.
Among the many revelations made during the hearing was that some of Waymo’s remote operators who assist its self-driving vehicles are based in the Philippines. When asked how many of their operators are based outside the U.S., Waymo Chief Safety Officer Mauricio claimed he did not have those numbers readily available.
Waymo also faced questions about its use of Chinese-made vehicles since current US law prohibits importing vehicles with autonomous or connectivity software from China. He claimed that they stripped away all the software in the vehicles and that Waymo’s installed software doesn’t share any data outside the U.S.
None of this appears to bother Uber, which announced plans to launch robotaxi services in 15 cities in 2026, including Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
