California governor Gavin Newsom labored late final night time, vetoing a legislation that will have banned self-driving vehicles with no human aboard from state roads till the early 2030s. State lawmakers had voted by the legislation with huge margins, backed by unions that argued autonomous vehicles are a security danger and threaten jobs.

The invoice would have seen California, which in 2012 turned the primary state to clear a regulatory path for autonomous autos, flip in opposition to self-driving know-how just as driverless taxis are starting to serve the public. Autonomous truck builders now hope the freight-heavy state—dwelling to 2 of the biggest US ports—will at some point grow to be a crucial hyperlink in an autonomous trucking community spanning the US.

Companies creating the know-how say it’ll save freight shippers cash by enabling vehicles to run hundreds on highways 24 hours a day, and by eliminating the risks of distracted human driving, which may deliver down insurance coverage prices.

The Teamsters union, which represents tens of 1000’s US truck drivers, mechanics, and different freight staff, organized a mass caravan to Sacramento this week to induce Newsom to signal AB316, which might have required a security driver on self-driving vehicles weighing greater than 10,000 kilos by no less than the tip of the last decade.

In a letter released yesterday, Newsom wrote that the legislation is “unnecessary,” as a result of California already has two businesses, the Department of Motor Vehicles and the state Highway Patrol, overseeing and creating laws for the brand new know-how. State businesses are within the midst of making particular guidelines for heavy-duty autonomous autos, together with vehicles.

Newsom’s veto received’t change a lot within the short-term. Because state guidelines are nonetheless in improvement, driverless vehicles are usually not permitted to check on public roads in California. Newsom wrote in his letter that draft laws “are expected to be released for public comment in the coming months.”

Most of the US firms engaged on autonomous vehicles function on highways within the southeast and west, especially Texas, the place dry climate and a come-as-y’all-are strategy to driverless tech laws make situations excellent. None of the businesses testing autonomous vehicles within the US have eliminated security drivers, who’re skilled to take over when the automobile goes unsuitable, from behind the wheels of their large rigs. (The controversial firm TuSimple says it has accomplished a handful of completely driverless truck demonstrations within the US; it has since paused its US operations.)

Labor advocates argued the California ban on driverless vehicles was wanted to guard state residents from tech that’s not prepared for prime time. “I’ve blown a perfectly good tire driving the speed limit in a truck and I had to cross three lanes trying to get it under control,” says Mike Di Bene, a truck driver of 30 years and member of the Teamsters. He’s uncertain autonomous vehicles can but deal with such conditions.

The Teamsters have additionally argued that driverless truck tech threatens truck drivers’ jobs. In a series of tweets posted Saturday morning, Teamsters president Sean O’Brien wrote that Newsom “doesn’t have the guts to face working people” and would “rather give our jobs away in the dead of night.”