Autonomous Trucks
Teamsters Local 350, which represents all of the sanitation workers in San Francisco, is calling on the autonomous vehicle (AV) company Cruise to take measures to prevent more alarming incidents with its vehicles from occurring in the city. The union is making the demand following numerous instances of Cruise AVs blocking waste and recycling trucks, including a notable incident at the intersection of Van Ness Avenue and Hayes Street. “I was blocked by three Cruise AVs on a three-lane, one-way street. It’s a tricky intersection, but a human driver would have the intuition to go around me without causing a problem. AVs apparently can’t do that.”“These vehicles regularly block me from reaching customers on my route,” said Quentin Booker, another Local 350 waste truck driver.