California explores allowing self-driving semitrucks amid stiff opposition: 'You cannot program instinct into a computer'

California already has rules governing self-driving cars and delivery trucks that weigh less than 10,001 pounds (4,536 kilograms). Now, the California Department of Motor Vehicles is gathering information for potential new rules that would let self-driving semitrucks on the road that can weigh up to 80,000 pounds (36,287 kilograms). Labor unions aren’t waiting around for that to happen. “There is no way they can think like that.”But beyond safety issues, labor unions see the technology as a threat to their jobs. The Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association, an industry trade group that supports self-driving technology, has argued autonomous trucks would make for safer roadways, asserting computers make fewer mistakes than humans.