TWU Tech Newsletter: Don’t Trust NY Gov. Kathy Hochul on Autonomous Vehicles
ALL EYES ON HOCHUL: The New York Times reports that Gov. Kathy Hochul’s move to quash a Waymo robotaxi expansion in New York is due to her desire to get labor backing for her unrelated proposal to lower car insurance premiums. But Transport Workers Union International President John Samuelsen warned that Hochul is simply trying to wait out a reelection bid before returning to boosting Waymo, which currently has temporary permission to operate in NYC through the end of the month.
“She is going to get through her election, and then try to come out and stick it to everybody,” Samuelsen told the New York Times about the likelihood of Governor Hochul restarting a push for driverless vehicles. “I don’t have any doubt in the world — I wish I could bet it in Vegas.”
Hochul has flip-flopped in the last two months on robotaxis. In January, she included language in the state’s budget that would have allowed robotaxi companies like Waymo and Uber to operate in the state beyond New York City with approval from local governments. Then in February, she reversed course and withdrew the proposal.
“Kathy Hochul is an enemy of organized labor, and everyone should see her moves for what they are – an attempt to win reelection,” Samuelsen said. “She has no qualms about giving Big Tech what they want once votes are counted. Transit workers, taxi drivers, and other blue-collar workers who would see their livelihoods threatened by unfettered robotaxi expansion should not be duped by her last-ditch approach at saving face.”
WAYWARD WAYMOS IN TEXAS: Waymo also has faced continued issues in Texas, where state officials have generally allowed robotaxis to operate with less oversight. Video footage showed a Waymo blocking an ambulance responding to a mass shooting in Austin, where two people were killed and 13 were wounded. Waymo described the incident, where a police officer was forced to enter the vehicle and drive it away, as a “learning opportunity” according to Fox News. Separate videos showed Waymo vehicles in Austin stopped beyond railroad crossing gates as trains passed by, CBS Austin reports. Waymo said that on at least two occasions, the vehicles braked about eight feet away from the tracks.
“Waymo describes blocking first responders as a ‘learning opportunity’ which is corporate-speak for ‘our technology isn’t ready for urban streets,’” said TWU Administrative Vice President Curtis Tate. “We have seen continued incidents where Waymos block police, fire, and ambulances while also driving through literal crime scenes.”
And the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report released last week that a recent incident (also in Austin) of a Waymo driving around a school bus loading passengers occurred after the Waymo asked a human remote assistance operator if it was acceptable to pass. Waymo recently told the U.S. Senate that the majority of their remote operators are located in the Philippines. The NTSB plans to make safety recommendations in response to the incident and dozens of similar incidents where Waymos drove around stopped school buses in Texas and Georgia.
“Waymo and other Big Tech companies like to brag about their self-driving technology but still revert to humans sitting thousands of miles away to make safety decisions that otherwise would fall to a trained operator,” Samuelsen said. “They can talk a big game, but when it comes down to it a human watching a camera makes the call. That’s unacceptable.”
WHAT ELSE IS COOKING
ABOVE AND BEYOND: A TWU Bus Operator showed, yet again, the importance of having a human working on transit vehicles. Christopher Accettulli called 911 when a passenger on his B37 Bus in Brooklyn was in distress. It turned out the passenger was in active labor, and Accettulli helped to deliver the baby and kept it warm until first responders arrived, CBS New York reported.
“This is another example of why a human worker on the bus or train is so important,” said TWU Administrative Vice President Curtis Tate. “If Big Tech had their way, passengers would be trying to simultaneously deal with remote ‘support’ and first responders when an emergency arises. Christopher Accettulli’s actions and training kept a mother and baby safe.”
Accettulli said the “best feeling of all” was returning to his route and getting congratulations from his frequent passengers about his quick thinking.
“After I came back, after the baby was born, I started driving the bus again and my passengers that usually ride my bus were all congratulating me for doing such a good job,” Accettulli said. “That felt good because it was heartwarming and they saw and appreciated everything I did.”
STRATEGIZING IN FLORIDA: TWU transit, school bus and other locals from across the country came together in Fort Lauderdale to lay out plans for advocacy and bargaining over emerging automated technologies and artificial intelligence-powered systems.
“This is year seven of a national TWU initiative to ensure our members, not the Big Tech billionaires, determine the future of work and jobs in our industries,” Tate said. “This meeting gave us a chance to build powerful mobilization and bargaining strategies for 2026 as we see the rapid acceleration of unproven, poorly regulated technologies that threaten good jobs and safe and high-quality passenger service.”
Local leaders and the TWU International developed responses to national technology and AI trends, shared successful bargaining strategies, and pledged to work together to counter the false and misleading narrative being pushed by the largest technology companies in the world.
“We know that the autonomous vehicle and AI companies are pouring billions into finding new markets to sell their technologies and the transit sector is a target,” Tate said. “TWU is committed to stopping these dangerous technologies from infiltrating the industries where our members work. We have a plan and we are executing it.”
LEARNING FROM TWU: TWU showcased its industry-leading collective bargaining agreements on technology at a strategy meeting hosted by the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, a federation of 39 transportation unions. TWU Senior Director of Government Affairs Zack Tatz, TWU Local 208 President Tyson Brown and TWU’s Senior Technology Advisor Edward Wytkind (former TTD president) presented TWU’s bargaining achievements and strategies in the meeting of several TTD affiliated union representatives.
Local 208 has a groundbreaking collective bargaining agreement that requires labor-management consensus before any automated technologies, including autonomous buses, can be implemented at the Columbus, OH transit system, COTA. The agreement also requires a licensed operator to be onboard and in charge of any COTA vehicle in service regardless of the level of automation in the vehicle.
TESLA TROUBLE IN TEXAS: Despite the fanfare, Tesla’s Austin robotaxis, launched in June 2025, are crashing at an alarming rate, with five more accidents reported just in December and January. According to reporting in Electrek, the reported crashes “include a collision with a fixed object at 17 mph while the vehicle was driving straight, a crash with a bus, a collision with a heavy truck at 4 mph, and two separate incidents where the Tesla backed into objects, one into a pole or tree at 1 mph and another into a fixed object at 2 mph.”
“The dangerous chaos we are seeing in our streets, due to lenient government rules on robotaxi operations, do not come as a surprise,” Samuelsen said. “We’ve said for years that these zombie robocars use flawed and unproven technology and too many state officials are greenlighting them without first adopting strict and enforceable safety regulations.”
Electrek also reports that “by Tesla’s own benchmark, the company’s robotaxi fleet crash rate is “4 times” higher than what Tesla says is “normal for a regular human driver.” This rash of incidents comes on the heels of other stories emerging about Tesla robotaxis driving on the wrong side of the road and “braking erratically.”
AUTOMATED TRAIN IN LA? LA Metro is planning a $25 billion underground fully autonomous north-south train that will run between Van Nuys and Westwood, where UCLA is located. The developers of this project claim 40-80 minute trips on this congested corridor using heavily traveled Interstate 405 will be reduced to 20 minutes. “The line would use fully automated, driverless train technology—a first for the Metro system,” Engineering News-Record reports. LA Metro projects a daily ridership of 120,000 with trains running every 2 ½ minutes during peak times. LA County sales tax measures from 2008 and 2016 will provide initial funding for the project, which will need billions more in state and federal funding to deliver this project.
