The implementation of driverless trucks will lead to suicides and “an outbreak of violence,” according to Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang.
Yang said he thinks it’s inevitable that some of America’s 3.5 million truck drivers will react violently to being replaced by driverless trucks.
“There’s going to be a lot of passion, a lot of resistance to this. Anyone who thinks truck drivers are just going to shrug and say, ‘Alright, I had a good run. I’ll just go home and figure it out’ — that’s not going to be their response,” Yang said Tuesday in an interview with podcast host Joe Rogan.
“It’s going to be much more likely that they say, ‘You need to make these trucks illegal,’ or they’re just gonna park their trucks across the highway, get their guns out, because a lot of these guys are ex-military, and just be like, ‘Hey, I’m not going to move my truck until I get my job back,’ and there are going to be a lot of truckers in the same situation,” said Yang.
Yang said he expects automated trucks to start taking shifts away from human drivers within six to 10 years. He cited his dark predictions as reason to support universal basic income, which is a major plank of his 2020 campaign.