Uber has fought its drivers at every turn when the people who make its platform actually work attempted to unionize, push for better wages, and improve working conditions. But now, with a rapidly expanding robotaxi business breathing down its neck, Uber has decided it’d rather find itself on the same side as unions in this particular fight than be put out of business entirely.
According to a report from the Financial Times, Uber and labor unions representing rideshare and taxi drivers are both working to slow the rollout of autonomous vehicles that offer rides with no driver involved. In New Jersey, the company reportedly backed a proposal that would require robotaxi services to have a human driver behind the wheel in at least 85% of all trips. It also signed on to a bill that would block autonomous vehicles from the roads of Washington, D.C.
Driver unions are mounting similar fights across the country. According to Axios, the Atlanta Rideshare Drivers Union is pushing the Atlanta city council to create a robotaxi impact fee that would take $0.50 to $1 per ride and put it aside in a driver transition fund to help the human fleet transition to new work if they are displaced by automation. They’re also pushing to keep robotaxis from making pickups at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, a reliable source of fares for drivers.
The drivers in Atlanta seem to be seeing the same thing that Uber has reportedly found in other cities where robotaxis show up: rides and earnings are starting to decline. In a policy paper published by Uber earlier this year, the company acknowledged that it’s already seeing signals of lower utilization and hourly earnings in San Francisco and Los Angeles, where robotaxis are more widely available. “Over time, the drivers who rely on the flexibility of Uber the most will be disproportionately affected,” the company noted, “others will have to work longer or at different times and places to earn the same amount.”
Gizmodo reached out to Uber for comment regarding its lobbying efforts but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
The fight for both drivers and Uber could be existential, so it makes sense that the two might find common ground in pushing back against the robotaxi takeover. But it wasn’t that long ago that Uber itself was threatening to push its drivers out with automation. The company had a self-driving development unit, which it sold off entirely in 2020. And it’s still invested in dozens of autonomous technology companies that do seek to transfer humans to the passenger seat.
Part of the reason for Uber’s efforts to slow the rollout of robotaxis is likely because it’s on the outside looking in. While the company has invested in and locked down exclusivity agreements with Waymo, the biggest player in the robotaxi game is reportedly looking for ways to get out of the Uber ecosystem. The two already broke up in Phoenix, where Waymo now operates its own platform rather than allowing people to hail a driverless cab via Uber.
If Uber were running its own service, or had successfully locked Waymo down, would it still be interested in securing any sort of protections for its own drivers? An extensive history of pushing back against such efforts would probably suggest no, but the drivers will probably take all the support they can get at this point.
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