SPRINGFIELD — Illinois rideshare drivers could soon collectively bargain with Uber and Lyft after the state General Assembly passed legislation early Monday outlining a path toward unionization. Meanwhile, a separate bill that would have authorized autonomous vehicle pilot programs in the state failed to advance before the end of the legislative session. The rideshare bill, which still needs Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature, passed with backing from SEIU Local 1, IAM machinists union Local 701 and Uber, supporters said. It would give more than 100,000 rideshare drivers in Illinois a way to form a union. “We’re excited to hit the road and let everybody know that they’re going to be able to join a union,” said Giovanni Suarez, a Chicago-based full-time rideshare driver who stayed in the Capitol past 2 a.m. to watch the bill pass in the state House. The Illinois model is similar to one approved by voters in Massachusetts, the first state where rideshare drivers won the right to bargain as independent contractors in 2024. Just days ago, Massachusetts also became the first state to formally recognize a union for ride-hailing app drivers, a certification covering roughly 70,000 workers that labor leaders described as the largest private-sector organizing win since Ford autoworkers unionized in 1941, according to The Associated Press. Illinois Republicans raised concerns during floor debate about the feasibility of organizing workers who are not classified as employees. “What I’m trying to understand is how do we unionize people who aren’t employees, people who are their own independent contractors? They run themselves as their own business,” said GOP state Rep. Dan Ugaste of Geneva. That tension was at the heart of the bill. Rideshare companies and other employers in the so-called gig economy have long maintained that their drivers and other workers are not their direct employees.