On March 24, the California Senate Transportation Committee held an oversight hearing on autonomous vehicles (AVs) and robotaxis. The committee heard testimony from tech lobbyists, safety researchers, first responders, representatives from the DMV and CPUC, and members of CGWU from across the state.

The most grounded testimony came from the people who already spend their days navigating California traffic for a living: gig rideshare drivers.

Joe Augusto, a full-time Uber and Lyft driver, and member of CGWU with more than 25,000 rides over the last decade shared his perspective from a career built on busy city streets. 

Joe told senators that in the last year or so, he’s seen a shift in robotaxi behavior: AVs accelerating more aggressively, creeping onto sidewalks, and making confusing maneuvers at intersections. What used to be timid machines are now acting more aggressive in tight city streets. 

Gig drivers are used to anticipating bad behavior from human drivers like speeding, sudden lane changes, and risky turns. But as many have shared, incidents involving AVs have been different: abrupt, unexpected, and dangerous in ways that are hard to anticipate.

It’s unacceptable for AVs to be held less accountable than human drivers.

For a working gig driver, stalled robotaxis aren’t just an inconvenience: Those lost minutes are lost income. Those blocked routes are a safety risk not only for passengers, but for the communities that depend on emergency services.

As several California Gig Workers Union members pointed out at the hearing, human drivers are held accountable. We can lose our access to the rideshare platforms, our licenses, or our income if we drive unsafely. AVs should have to follow rules and be held accountable too!

For gig drivers, “innovation” only makes sense if it’s paired with clear rules, real transparency, and responsibility from AV corporations for when robotaxis malfunction. The safety of everyone on California’s streets depends on it. Until then, gig rideshare drivers will keep speaking out in support of SB 1246, watching out for our passengers, and building our union so that we can have a greater say on what’s happening in our work.