Author of Unsafe at Any Speed Says Uber's California Initiative and Federal Fong Amendment Threaten Decades of Auto Safety Progress LOS ANGELES, June 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumer advocate Ralph Nader, whose landmark 1965 book Unsafe at Any Speed helped launch the modern auto safety movement, today released an open letter to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi condemning the company's efforts to limit legal accountability for crashes involving rideshare drivers and autonomous vehicles. In the letter, Nader argues that Uber's California ballot initiative and the federal amendment sponsored by Congressman Vince Fong would weaken longstanding legal protections that have held automakers and technology companies accountable for dangerous products and defective vehicle systems. "Sixty years ago, the publication of Unsafe at Any Speed exposed a simple but consequential truth: when corporations are allowed to evade accountability for dangerous products, the public bears the cost in preventable deaths, injuries, and suffering," Nader wrote Nader warned that Uber is seeking liability protections at the same time it accelerates deployment of robotaxis and autonomous vehicle partnerships across the country. "Uber is actively pursuing legal and legislative changes in California and at the federal level that would weaken its accountability for injuries and deaths tied to its platform and the autonomous vehicle systems Uber is now rapidly deploying," Nader wrote. "These efforts are not technical adjustments to litigation rules. They represent a fundamental attempt to undermine the rights of injured people and reduce corporate responsibility at the very moment rising autonomous systems are being tested on public roads at scale." The letter highlights Uber's push for federal legislation sponsored by Representative Vince Fong (Bakersfield, CA) that would limit the company's legal exposure for crashes involving drivers using its platform. "Uber's efforts in California are now being mirrored in Congress through the amendment sponsored by Representative Vince