Robotaxis, a ‘needless and dangerous corporate experiment’

Drivers Union is voicing opposition to untested autonomous vehicles on public roads without human safety operators

SEATTLE, WA (October 30, 2025) — While Waymo lobbyists snacked on canapés at a cocktail party, rideshare drivers represented by the Drivers Union crowded the sidewalk in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood on Thursday, protesting the company’s plan to flood the city’s streets with robotaxis.

This action comes on the heels of an open letter circulated by the Drivers Union, laying out serious concerns with unmanned autonomous vehicles on Washington’s roads, including threats to safety and local jobs.

A Waymo unmanned vehicle recently failed to recognize a school bus in Atlanta, bypassing the flashing lights and stop arm to zip by children getting off the bus. Regulators think this failure may be widespread, and now 2,000 Waymo vehicles are under investigation. It’s just one of countless examples of autonomous vehicles failing to follow rules of the road, as tech companies use local communities as guinea pigs for tech not yet, perhaps ever, safe for public roads. Advocates warn these threats to safety are more serious for children and people of color due to poorly-developed algorithms.

“We’ve seen a frightening trend by robotaxi software to perpetuate racial and other biases,” Drivers Union President Peter Kuel said in a statement. “Research shows that driverless vehicles are less likely to detect people with darker skin and less likely to recognize children than adult pedestrians.”

Advocates are also concerned about local job losses. The business practices of rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft already threaten workers’ economic stability. Through the Drivers Union, workers have been able to fight back against some of these companies’ anti-worker policies. But that progress is under threat with the introduction of untested autonomous vehicle tech.

“Please remember that rideshare drivers like me are members of our local community – working hard every day to support our community and families,” said Adama Dukuray, a rideshare driver for more than 10 years who joined yesterday’s protest. “By organizing with Drivers Union, we’ve made progress in pushing back on Uber and Lyft to achieve basic protections like a minimum wage, access to benefits like paid sick leave, and legal protections against unfair deactivation. It would be disastrous if another big tech company came into our community, took our jobs, and erased the gains we have won – all while increasing congestion with more unnecessary cars on our streets.”

The bottom line, “Robotaxis threaten union jobs that provide economic security to thousands of local workers,” said Kuel.

For these reasons and more, robotaxis are deeply unpopular. One poll of 8,000 respondents saw the majority say they want to see robotaxis outlawed altogether. So why the push to get them on our streets?

Tech companies based hundreds of miles away are chasing profits, betting on a future market for robotaxis that financial analysts aren’t confident will ever materialize. With the dangers this untested tech poses for local communities, the question becomes: where are the guardrails?

Drivers Union wants to see regulators deny permitting to robotaxis, appropriately regulate and require human safety operators in vehicles, and leave Washington off the list of places allowing what the union calls a “needless and dangerous corporate experiment to play out on public streets.”

“With driverless robotaxis, Waymo wants to conduct a dangerous experiment on the residents of Seattle,” said Paul Dascher, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 117. “These vehicles have been known to hit pedestrians, block emergency vehicles, and impede the flow of traffic. Seattle needs human drivers, not corporate robots.”

Supporters are encouraged to sign-on to the drivers’ open letter and join the call for effective regulation of autonomous vehicles.

Drivers Union is the voice for Washington’s more than 30,000 ride-hail drivers and is certified by Washington Department of Labor & Industries as the statewide Driver Resource Center. For more information, visit DriversUnionWA.org.