Rideshare drivers have a difficult job. The hours are long. The costs of owning a car are rising. There's a lack of health care, paid leave or job protection. And the gig is tough enough without having to compete with robots, advocates say.
On Thursday, a large group of rideshare workers employed with companies like Uber and Lyft joined with labor and community leaders for a protest outside the New Jersey Statehouse in Trenton.
Their rallying cry? "I Am Human."
Protesters held banners reading "Drivers Demand Union Rights!" and "NO Robot Cars—Drivers Need Union Rights!" as speakers called on state leaders to address the economic and safety challenges that rideshare workers already face before focusing on driverless cars.
According to 32BJ SEIU, an estimated 100,000 drivers rely on rideshare work to support themselves and their families across New Jersey. These workers are at risk of losing their jobs if the state allows robotaxi companies to set up shop, advocates say.
Currently, New Jersey doesn't explicitly allow fully autonomous vehicles. But that could begin to change if a proposed state law makes it across the finish line.
If it passes, S-1677 would create a three-year pilot program to test the safety of driverless cars and create a set of potential guidelines to safeguard the public. The bill would not authorize fully autonomous vehicles itself – further legislation would be needed to make that a reality.
Several people testified in support of the bill during a committee hearing earlier this year, including business and industry officials, transportation safety groups, and a disability rights group, the New Jersey Monitor reported.
Driverless cars could be a "game changer" for blind and disabled residents, according to Linda Melendez, president of the National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey.
"Having strong safety regulations does not block technological development – it makes sure that unsafe companies don't have their vehicles unsupervised on the roads and don't hurt people," said Shua Sanchez, national campaign director of Safe Autonomous Vehicles Everywhere in the United States.
The hearing also included supportive testimony from Waymo, a fully autonomous ride-hailing service that currently operates in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Tennessee and Texas.
According to a self-reported analysis from the company, the safety record of its self-driving vehicles is safer than their counterparts:
"Compared to human drivers in the same areas over the same period, the Waymo Driver was involved in 94% fewer crashes causing serious or fatal injuries, 82% fewer crashes in which an airbag deployed, and 82% fewer crashes involving any reported injury. Each comparison is made regardless of who was at fault in a collision. This strong safety performance extends to the most vulnerable people on the road: Waymo experienced 93% fewer injury-causing crashes involving pedestrians, 84% fewer involving cyclists, and 84% fewer involving motorcyclists."
Waymo has shown a hesitancy to expand into New Jersey until the legal landscape is more fleshed out, however.
Last year, a spokesperson for the company told NJ Advance Media that Waymo is advocating for the Garden State to create regulations that allow for fully autonomous commercial operation.
"Until New Jersey does the same, we will not be able to bring the same service we provide in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin, and Atlanta to the state," they said.
That's just fine with advocates like Ana María Hill, the New Jersey state director and vice president at Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
"New Jersey must put workers before Waymo," Hill urged.
"We are not against innovation—but innovation cannot come at the expense of working people," Hill continued. "Before Waymo gets a green light in New Jersey, drivers need enforceable union rights and a seat at the table."
"Technology should serve working people, not replace them," Hill added.
Other attendees at Thursday's rally called on state lawmakers to halt S-1677, demanding more job protections as the nascent industry of driverless cars evolves.
Labor allies also urged lawmakers to advance legislation giving rideshare drivers the right to choose a union and bargain collectively over compensation, benefits, working conditions and protection against "unfair deactivation."
The rally brought together rideshare and professional drivers, members of 32BJ SEIU, the App Drivers Union and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, as well as Make the Road New Jersey, the New Jersey Coalition of Latino Pastors and Ministers and other labor and community partners.
For Elizabeth Figueroa Núñez, a rideshare driver who was recently assaulted by a passenger, the need for better job protections is deeply personal – and urgent.
A single mother of two who has driven for app-based companies for four years, Figueroa Núñez said she was hospitalized after being assaulted by a passenger earlier this year. Instead of finding help from the company that paid her, she was deactivated instead.
"I risked my life doing this work, but when I needed the company to stand behind me the most, I was left alone," Figueroa Núñez said.
"My children depend on the income I earn as a driver, yet I have no health insurance or real protection when something happens to me," she continued. "We are not machines, we are mothers, fathers and workers."
"We deserve the right to organize, safe working conditions and protection from unfair deactivation before corporations are allowed to replace us with robot cars," Figueroa Núñez said.
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