At Hearing on Self-Driving Trucks, Norton Says Congress Must Take Action to Help Workers Transition Skills to New Jobs

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), ranking member of the House Highways and Transit Subcommittee, yesterday at a subcommittee roundtable, entitled "Emerging Technologies in the Trucking Industry," urged congressional action to prepare for possible job losses to self-driving trucks. According to the White House Council of Economic Advisors (CEA), the jobs of two million truck drivers and half a million bus drivers could be threatened by autonomous commercial vehicles. Norton asked about the chronic shortage of truck drivers in the United States, and roundtable witnesses testified that innovation in technology could help encourage younger drivers to pursue a trucking career by making a job with long hours and tough working conditions more attractive. Norton said Congress has a role to play in helping truck drivers, whose jobs require significant skills, transition to new positions. Experts witnesses said that widespread self-driving trucks were not likely in the foreseeable future.

"Our nation's experience with technological innovation has been generally positive, but we have already seen the loss of retail jobs to internet shopping, for example," Norton said. "Experts testifying at our roundtable said that drivers are still indispensable to the industry. However, Congress needs to dive in now to think through what it would mean to the economy if two million truck drivers and half a million bus drivers, who have significant skills, are out work, and what Congress can do it about it."