Overview
- The California Teamsters filed a lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court that asks a judge to invalidate the DMV’s April regulations and bar the agency from enforcing permits for autonomous commercial trucks.
- The union alleges the DMV skipped a legally required economic review by using a shortcut for low‑cost rule changes and so understated costs that the agency counted only about $5.8 million while the union says first‑year impacts could top $50 million.
- Teamsters say the rules were issued without adequate public disclosure of job and safety impacts and describe the policy as an existential threat to roughly 200,000 trucking and related jobs.
- The DMV declined to comment on pending litigation, while the agency’s director previously defended the rules as a way to grow the autonomous‑vehicle industry and improve accountability for manufacturers.
- If a judge blocks the rules, permit applications and deployments could be delayed and the case could shape California’s next governor’s approach to labor protections, AV safety oversight, and broader automation policy.