The TWU will tell the Federal Government’s AI inquiry on Wednesday that moves to enable robotaxi rollout must be halted until stringent guardrails are in place, including that companies wishing to operate robotaxis must maintain a human workforce and funnel no less than 95% of jobs to humans.
The TWU’s proposed Human Driver Guarantee model prevents tech companies with exclusively human-less fleets from entering the market, which would displace thousands of workers, intensify deadly pressure on the road, and send worker wages offshore.
Research by the John Curtin Research Centre showed that widespread deployment without protections would risk $220 million in wages during early-stage rollout, and up to 85,600 job losses.
Deployment in other areas of the US and China have seen robotaxis causing traffic chaos and blocking emergency services vehicles, driving into active crime scenes and construction zones, acting illegally around school buses, and piling pressure onto rideshare drivers to work longer hours to make the same pay.
To ensure the technology benefits Australia, the TWU will also call for profits to be reinvested back into workers and the community, and for requirements to maintain access to regional areas, evening and weekend peaks, and access for passengers with accessibility needs.
The TWU has previously revealed polling results from YouGov demonstrating strong public support for government intervention to protect workers and ensure the community benefits from the technology.
The YouGov polling in May revealed that:
• 7 in 10 Australians opposed fully automated taxis and trucks on Australian roads
• 3 in 4 say the Federal Government should act to protect transport workers losing their jobs to driverless vehicles
Companies like Waymo, owned by Google’s parent company and providing four hundred thousand rides in driverless taxis in the US every week, are actively lobbying to introduce automated robotaxis in Australia, but polling shows this decision should not be left to tech companies to impose with no guardrails on our roads.
The TWU is also demanding that any law changes that enable the importation of automated vehicle technology be confined to light passenger vehicles, and expressly exclude heavy vehicles.
See the TWU’s principles and recommendations on robotaxis here
TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said:
“Tech companies are banging down the door of our governments to force robotaxis into our communities en masse, without the Australian community having any say. But make no mistake, a “let it rip” approach to this technology will see jobs trashed, huge safety risks for workers and the community, and profits directed back to Silicon Valley.
“Instead of sucking billions out of Australia without providing any benefit in return, tech companies deploying robotaxis must also maintain a human fleet and funnel the overwhelming majority of work to humans. This will protect jobs and see profits reinvested in our community.
“Protections must be put in place before any autonomous vehicles are put on our roads, not after, so that we avoid the mistakes of the gig economy.
“Companies like Uber came to our shores and broke dozens of laws, trashing Australian jobs in the process, and we spent a decade catching up. We have been world leaders in taking on some of the biggest corporations in the world, whether social media behemoths or massive gig companies, but this time we cannot waste a decade playing catch-up.
“It is time to see decisions made in the interests of workers and the Australian community, and that means putting humans at the centre, not having tech billionaires with dollar signs in their eyes imposing technology on us without us benefiting.”