Image: Leah Willingham 

Drivers for ride-hailing apps such as Uber and Lyft celebrated Tuesday after Massachusetts became the first state to recognize their union, a milestone in the growing effort to organize gig-economy workers classified as independent contractors under federal labor law.

The victory could provide a model for similar campaigns gaining traction in states including California and Illinois, where labor organizers are increasingly targeting app-based industries as drivers also grapple with the rapid expansion of self-driving technology.

As drivers waved signs and chanted with the gold dome of the Massachusetts State House providing a backdrop, labor leaders described Friday’s certification as the largest private-sector organizing win since Ford autoworkers unionized in 1941.

Jean Fredo, who has driven for Uber for more than seven years, said he hopes the union will bring better pay, stronger protections against sudden deactivations and more stability for drivers.

Uber and Lyft said they planned to work with the new bargaining framework as negotiations move forward. Uber said it would work with the union and regulators while preserving “driver flexibility and hard-won benefits,” while Lyft said it was committed to “engaging in good faith” and “helping drivers succeed while keeping rideshare affordable and dependable for everyone who counts on it.”

The certification became possible after the state’s voters approved a 2024 ballot measure creating a first-in-the-nation framework allowing ride-hailing drivers to unionize and bargain collectively while remaining independent contractors — a model some business groups and legal scholars argue could face antitrust challenges under federal law. Organizers say the union will ultimately represent nearly 70,000 drivers statewide.

Source: AP News

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Image: Brandon Bell

Waymo has nearly 600 autonomous vehicles registered in Texas, a figure that far outpaces emerging competitors Avride, Nuro, Tesla, and Zoox, according to data available in a new website launched by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.

The automated vehicle tracker tool — part of a new law that requires AV companies to register with the DMV — gives the public the first accurate and easy-to-access accounting of how many autonomous vehicles are in Texas. The state law, which went into effect May 28, requires companies testing or deploying AVs in the state to share how many vehicles are in their fleets as well as other safety information.

It also shows just how wide the gap is between Waymo and rival Tesla — two companies offering commercial robotaxi services.

Alphabet-owned Waymo has registered 577 autonomous vehicles in Texas, followed by Avride with 317, and Nuro with 47. Tesla, which launched a robotaxi service in Austin last summer and has since said it has expanded to Dallas and Houston, has registered 42 autonomous vehicles. Other companies with registered autonomous vehicles in the state include Volkswagen subsidiary MOIA, which has a fleet of 12 electric, autonomous microbuses.

The size of an autonomous-vehicle fleet only reveals so much about where a company stands on the leaderboard. Many of these companies — Nuro and Zoox, for instance — are not operating commercially.

Source: Tech Crunch

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Trump Wants a Gas Tax Holiday. There's a Much Bigger Problem Looming

President Trump has called for a temporary waiver of the federal gas tax, which costs drivers 18.4 cents per gallon.

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California Considers High-Speed Buses

Buses traveling at 120 mph on dedicated freeway lanes would connect San Francisco and Los Angeles in just over three hours, a California Department of Transportation research report estimates.

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AI Is Coming for Truck Drivers. A New Bill Is Trying to Brace US Workers for Impact.

A new bill recently introduced in the House would establish rules for workers in the new industry, creating the first federal framework for autonomous commercial trucks, including provisions on remote workers and workforce training grants.

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Canada Transit Agencies Call for Stronger Federal Investment

Canada's three largest public transit agencies have jointly submitted recommendations to the federal government ahead of the fall budget season. Combined, the three agencies face more than CA$50 billion in unfunded capital needs over the next decade. The three-pronged submission from Societe de transport de Montreal (STM), the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and TransLink first asks the government to reverse a decision made in the 2025 budget that reduced the 10-year, CA$30 billion Canada Public Transit Fund (CPTF) program by CA$5 billion.

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CRA Compliance for the Trucking Industry Coming into Force

The CRA has lifted the moratorium on penalties for failing to report fees for services for the 2025 tax year and subsequent tax years. Businesses in this sector will now be assessed penalties if they fail to report payments for services exceeding $500 in a calendar year that are made to a Canadian-controlled private corporation in the trucking industry.

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Incentives, Gas Prices Pushing More Interest in EVs

More than a third of Canadian new-vehicle shoppers say they would seriously consider buying an electric vehicle, driven by higher fuel costs and the return of federal incentives, according to a new J.D. Power survey.

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Uber Aims Munich Robotaxi Rollout via Autobrains Deal

Uber and Autobrains have entered into a strategic partnership to launch a robotaxi program in Munich, integrating its ride-hailing platform, Autobrains’ autonomous driving technology and U.S. chipmaker Nvidia’s NVDA DRIVE Hyperion Level 4 autonomous vehicle platform. The initiative aims to advance commercially viable autonomous mobility and create a scalable framework for robotaxi services.

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Portugal Transportation Workers Set to Strike This Week

Industrial action is scheduled to take place on June 3 with walkouts planned across the whole of Portugal. At airports, more than 500 flights are at risk of being cancelled due to the general strike, according to The Resident. 300 of these flights are operated by TAP Air Portugal, as well as other Portugalia and SATA services. The upcoming strike will not only affect flights, but other methods of transport too from trains to ferries, buses and metros.

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Greater Manchester Adds 125 Wrightbus e-Buses to Bee Network Fleet Plan

Greater Manchester has ordered 125 additional electric buses from Wrightbus for the Bee Network. Transport for Greater Manchester has confirmed a new order for 125 zero-emission buses from UK manufacturer Wrightbus, adding to a 55-vehicle order placed in March and to 76 electric buses previously purchased from the Ballymena-based company.

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Waymo Launches New Robotaxi Built on Chinese-Made Minivan

Waymo has begun offering select members of the public rides in its newest robotaxi, a purpose-built electric minivan called the Ojai.

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Santiago, São Paulo and Bogotá Make Up Nearly 70% of Latin America’s E-Bus Fleet, Now Approaching 10,000 Vehicles

Latin America’s electric bus fleet surpassed 9,000 vehicles in 2025 and is likely already above the 10,000-unit threshold, according to ICCT data and updated figures based on the E-bus Radar and reported by trade agency electrive The electric bus fleet operating across Latin America and the Caribbean reached 9,115 vehicles by the end of 2025.

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VinGroup to Launch Green SM EV Taxi Service in India

Vietnam’s Vingroup is set to enter India’s rapidly growing ride-hailing market with its Green SM electric taxi service. It will officially launch on June 5 in New Delhi.

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The U.S. DOT Volpe Center and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently issued a report on their research of 13 fleets and six stakeholders to assess intelligent speed assistance (ISA), including deployment experiences and its benefits for safety, fleet management, fuel efficiency, and vehicle maintenance.

Together for Safer Roads will be hosting a webinar on “Intelligent Speed Assistance in Fleet Management” on Wednesday, June 3^rd at Noon EST, where attendees will hear from the authors of this report, as well as Western Express, which is one of the fleets that participated in the research for the report and is one of the largest commercial fleets that have installed ISA.

Recently, ISA has been part of legislative discussions in Albany as part of the New York State budget process, and it was announced this week that the Stop Super Speeders Act would be passed, requiring those who repeatedly receive speeding tickets in New York City to install ISA in order to physically prevent vehicles from exceeding speed limits. You can read more about the New York Stop Super Speeders Act by clicking here.

IATR President Matt Daus’ article about Intelligent Speed Assistance and the “Safety Tech Shift Taxis Can’t Ignore” can be found here.

You can register for the Together for Safer Roads ISA webinar on June 3^rd by clicking here.

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