Several unions, including the Transportation Trades Department, Transport Workers Union of America, Teamsters, and United Auto Workers, have called to open an industry-wide probe led by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Department of Transportation (DOT) to assess the safety failures and address challenges posed by driverless vehicles.

They urged US auto safety regulators to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the safety of driverless vehicles, including those operated by Alphabet's Waymo and Amazon's Zoox. They argue that federal regulation is urgently needed to address safety issues and the safety of workers to ensure responsible operations.

The unions emphasize concerns about the current safety of driverless vehicles, pointing to recent incidents involving General Motors' self-driving unit, Cruise, and California's suspension of its operations.  

Analyst QuickTake: In light of recent industry challenges, unions' push for investigations into self-driving vehicle companies is unsurprising. Cruise recalled 950 driverless cars last week to update software, after a crash that led to the suspension of its permit in California. Furthermore, in March 2023, US auto safety regulators opened a probe into Zoox’s self-certification claims, which say its robotaxis meet and exceed the NHTSA’s Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).