Teamsters California on Monday urged the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to indefinitely suspend Waymo’s license to operate in the state, arguing that the incident underscores broader safety and labor concerns associated with autonomous vehicles.
“This incident symbolizes Big Tech companies’ broader goal of replacing skilled human labor with AI,” Teamsters co-presidents Peter Finn and Victor Minrose said in a statement. “They want to push millions of people into poverty by destroying their livelihoods, confiscate workers’ money, and force our communities to accept the consequences of automation’s shortcomings. Robotaxis put workers’ jobs at risk and are now terrorizing our children.”
The union’s statement comes just days after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced it was launching an investigation into the incident.
The accident occurred at school drop-off time on January 23, when a child reportedly ran past a parked SUV towards school and was hit by a Waymo robotaxi. According to Waymo, the vehicle’s systems detected the child shortly after it began running, causing the car to brake harshly and reduce its speed from approximately 17 mph to less than 6 mph before contact was made.
Waymo said the child stood up and was able to walk on the sidewalk immediately after the impact. The vehicle then called 911 and remained at the scene until law enforcement gave it the all-clear to leave.
Announcing its investigation, NHTSA’s Office of Defect Investigations said it would investigate whether Waymo “took appropriate precautions given, among other things, its proximity to an elementary school during drop off hours, and the presence of young pedestrians and other potentially vulnerable road users.” The investigation will also evaluate the intended behavior of the robotaxi’s automated driving system in school zones.
This isn’t the only NHTSA investigation involving Waymo and schools. Last month, NHTSA sent a letter to Waymo announcing a separate investigation after reports that Waymo vehicles failed to stop for school buses with flashing lights, instead driving around them.
Waymo did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment. However, in a blog post about the crash the company said, “We are committed to improving road safety wherever we work as we pursue our mission to become the world’s most trusted drivers.”
Teamsters California represents approximately 250,000 workers in industries including construction, warehouse, trucking and transportation. The union pointed to the ongoing school-bus investigation as evidence that regulators should act more aggressively.
“Waymo vehicles continue to illegally ignore school bus stop signs despite a company-wide software recall and another, separate NHTSA investigation,” the Teamsters statement said. “Parents, teachers, school staff and community members are demanding that these vehicles be kept away from school zones. Waymo and its parent company, Google, choose to ignore those warnings.”
The CPUC did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment.
California isn’t the only place where robotaxi services are facing opposition from workers. Last year, a coalition of unions, including Teamsters Local 25, backed a proposed ordinance that would commission a study on the impact autonomous vehicles would have on the city and use those assessments to set rules for autonomous vehicle operators. The union has also supported legislation that would require robotaxis to operate with human operators.
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