Driverless Cars and Trucks Win Approval in a Step Toward Postcapitalism

Regs approved… watch out for your driving job!

Photo by Bernd Dittrich on Unsplash

Automation, robotics, and digitalization go hand-in-hand, especially in the form of driverless vehicles. Envision the future postcapitalist economy. No cars have drivers but are hailed on demand through services like Uber, and they are always available within 1–2 minutes. Semi-trucks haul products all around the country with no driver, speeding along day and night, 24 hours a day. Delivery trucks bring your groceries ordered online and little robots bring them from the truck to your door. All of this is part of our postcapitalist future.

Today, we moved one step closer to this inevitability. The federal government issued new regulations for the use of driverless vehicles. This is a huge step in the “digitalization” of transportation and carries with it enormous social and economic ramifications. Why? Because a LOT of people make their living by driving cars.

• In the US, 2019 data shows that 338,000 people made their living driving taxis or Uber/Lyft ride services (source). 38% are immigrants (source).
• Around the world, 18 million people make their living from the same kind of driving occupation (source).