Business
Illinois Legislator Looks to Pave Road for Potential Self-Driving Car Pilot Program
Self-driving vehicles could soon be making their way to Chicago and other parts of Illinois.
State Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) has sponsored a new pilot program that would allow companies like Waymo to service Cook, Sangamon and Madison counties with autonomous vehicles over a three-year period.
The rollout has been met with some pushback due to safety concerns after reports they have ignored school bus stop signs in Austin, Texas, and struck a child in Santa Monica, California. Critics are also worried about how these vehicles will impact rideshare workers and the larger economy.
Sharing similar concerns, Buckner said he hopes to pass legislation that would begin to prepare Illinois for the arrival of these companies.
“What I am really concerned about is making sure that Illinois is ready for this technology, if we decide that it needs to come here to this state,” Buckner said.
He added that the legislation he is sponsoring creates what he calls “a test drive” for self-driving companies to operate with a three-year period allowing the state to gather information when it comes to issues of safety, liability and labor.
Impact on Labor
Ronnie Gonzalez, special representative for the IAM Mechanist Union and a leader for the Illinois Drivers Alliance, believes any legislation should only follow preliminary studies on the impact of self-driving vehicles.
Gonzalez, who has been organizing to get rideshare drivers the ability to unionize, believes the introduction of self-driving vehicles could have a devastating impact on their ability to work.
He hopes by including them in decision making that harm can be mitigated with the responsible implementation of these services.
“Technology has been coming into the workplace for decades now — it would be foolish to say that it can’t and it’s never going to come, so we want to make sure the drivers have a voice and are active in legislation if it’s going to pass,” Gonzalez said.
At a Senate hearing last week, Dr. Mauricio Peña, Chief Safety Officer for Waymo, said the company’s cars are provided guidance by remote operators, but that they do not remotely drive the vehicles. He later added that some operators were based abroad and specifically named the Philippines.
Gonzalez said he would want to see more transparency about the number of remote operators in other countries.
He fears that outsourcing labor, even to another state, could create what he calls a “displacement of wealth” that takes tax dollars and economic buying power away from Illinoisans.
Is It Safe?
In a statement, Waymo officials say they support the effort to bring their vehicles to Illinois.
“Our technology can make Illinois’ roads safer and transportation in the state more accessible,” the statement reads. “The data shows our vehicles are involved in 10x fewer serious injury or worse crashes, and 12x fewer injury crashes with pedestrians compared to other drivers where we operate.”
Josh Witowski, a lobbyist with ABATE Illinois, which provides legal and educational services to motorcyclists in Illinois, believes the numbers Waymo references are selective.
“They cherry pick their numbers,” Witowski said. “If you take a look at their numbers that they are reporting versus the numbers that are reported to the national highway traffic association and the numbers that are being reported in California, it doesn’t match, it doesn’t add up.”
Witowski also doubted the ways in which Waymo is collecting information to make comparisons between autonomous cars and human drivers.
The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association has also come out against the bill.
“HB4663 is a bill that was written by a tech company in a misguided attempt to self-regulate the autonomous vehicle industry in Illinois. Unfortunately, the bill fails to protect passengers that may utilize the technology, those that would share the roadways with AV’s, and the public at-large,” said Tim Cavanagh, the association’s president, in a statement.
Witowski’s skepticism for internal regulation has pushed him and ABATE to work with other sponsors in Illinois to pass their version of legislation that would require the public disclosure of any collision involving a self-driving vehicle along with requiring every vehicle to have a trackable identification number.
Taking it a step further, the legislation he is hoping to pass would also require companies like Waymo to disclose the identification number of a car involved in an incident, how it happened and how it will be fixed.
“We’ve got to make sure that we get this right,” Buckner said. “I think many of the issues that Josh brings up are very important and we got to find a way to make sure that folks are protected and that we have a process by which to do that.”
