As we mentioned last week, automated/driverless vehicles are here and on the road in places like California. The productivity improvements and dramatic reductions in transportation costs will be sensational and will eventually fall to close to zero.

Humans won’t having to suffer the drudgery of driving  trucks across the country – computers will do that. This is very similar to the impact of the farm tractor 100 years ago.  As the technology improves over the next decade or so, the number of trucking accidents will fall to close to zero – so traffic will move much more seamlessly.

Predictably, the Teamsters union isn’t happy. They have persuaded Senator Josh Hawley to introduce a bill requiring that autonomous vehicles always have a human operator in them. Hawley claims his major concern is safety (sic).

The truth is, he wants to protect the jobs of truck drivers: “only humans ought to drive cars and trucks.” Yes, in 10 years there won’t be too many trucking jobs left and that means hundreds of thousands of truck drivers will have to find new jobs. But stopping this technology is as futile and foolish as saving the jobs of people who made ice boxes.

We’re reminded that a century ago horse traders weren’t too excited about Henry Ford’s Model T:

Kudos to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who has announced that federal regulations will “be updated to fit the realities of the 21st century” and allow the growth of an autonomous vehicle industry. One obstacle is a federal regulation requiring that warning devices, like flares or safety cones, be placed around disabled vehicles.

More than 40,000 people die in auto accidents every year, including almost 1,000 people in Hawley’s home state of Missouri. Human error is a factor in between 90% and 99% of auto accidents.

Remember: Autonomous vehicles don’t get drunk, drowsy or distracted and don’t need bathroom breaks.