SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D- Winters) announced on April 16 that Assembly Bill 2886 (Aguiar-Curry, Friedman and Kalra) passed the Assembly Transportation Committee with a vote of 13-1.

AB 2886 requires that autonomous vehicles (AVs) over 10,000 pounds have a human safety operator present, during initial testing and deployment, to ensure the technology is working properly and to respond to any incidents and emergencies when the vehicles fail to operate properly on public roads.

“I’m proud to have passed the first hurdle in this year’s process with another resounding bipartisan vote. This is an issue that impacts the safety and employment of tens of millions of Californians,” said Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters). “I’m dumbfounded that the opposition makes the arguments that this bill limits the opportunity for them to cut ‘costs.’ Those ‘costs’ are humans in the trucking industry, and the price Californians public will pay for tech companies’ mistakes is their families’ safety. Our professional truck drivers are the stewards of our highways, not entries on a balance sheet. This is simply more proof that the industry cares more about profits than the safety of our constituents on public streets and highways.”

Said Mike Fry, a professional truck driver of 27 years and a member of Teamsters Local 2785, "AVs eliminate the spontaneity and adaptability that are critical to keeping our roads safe. I urge all California elected officials to please listen to professional drivers like me who operate this machinery every day. We know big trucks and we know California roads. Please, protect public safety and middle-class prosperity in California by supporting AB 2286."

“Tech companies pushing driverless big rigs are wreaking havoc on the livelihoods and safety of all Californians. There are hundreds of thousands of trucking jobs that will be lost due to automation in our state if we allow it,” said Lorena Gonzalez, Chief Officer of the California Labor Federation, representing 1,300 unions and 2.3 million union members. “The Legislature has shown strong bipartisan support for this legislation because safety and good jobs are issues everyone can get behind.”

“Driverless trucks/busses are dangerous and don’t belong on California roads or highways. The risks of autonomous passenger vehicles are well-documented, and the risks of heavy-duty autonomous vehicles would be even worse,” said Louie Costa, Director of the California State Legislative Board for the SMART-Transportation Division. “Removing drivers would cost tens of thousands of working Californians their jobs and Livelihoods. We cannot allow tech companies to trade our safety and jobs for increased corporate profits. Public transportation ridership has been slow to recover post pandemic, safety concerns add to the longstanding issues that discourage people from using public transit. Imagine how safe the public would feel without a human operator on board. We will continue to fight to make sure that robots do not replace human operators and that technology is not used to destroy good jobs. The future of all workers is a stake!”

AB 2286 balances technological advancement and the public good. This bill allows the AV technology to continue expanding in California, but requires the presence of a human safety operator in any AV over 10,000 pounds that is driven on public roads. The operator must have any relevant state and federal certifications for operating the vehicle. This bill also requires that disengagements and collisions of heavy-duty AVs are reported to DMV.

Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry represents the 4th Assembly District, which includes all of Lake, Colusa, Napa and Yolo Counties, and part of Sonoma County.