The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is set to vote on whether to allow tech companies Waymo and Cruise to launch a massive expansion of driverless taxi fleets in San Francisco. The vote is seen as a referendum on a range of issues related to technology, including the politics of artificial intelligence and the human workforce affected by the technology’s rapid development. The decision has sparked a state-by-state battle between tech executives, labor unions, transit advocates, city officials and robotaxi customers. The clash is a microcosm of the thorny questions that AI is raising across the economy.
