Loss of employment could follow as a direct consequence of the adoption of driverless vehicle, and “those selling auto insurance or adjusting claims” will be among the hardest hit – that was the word at Canada’s first conference dedicated to automated vehicles (AVs) last week in Toronto.
A speaker from the Van Horne Institute, a think tank dedicated to transportation issues, Brian Flemming, said the government was likely to have to step in and take a role in management of some of the knock-on effects expected to flow from the widespread adoption of the new technology.
“I think the job losses will far exceed the jobs that are created,” he said. For truck drivers, among others, “the writing is on the wall,” he said.
Flemming is a Senior Fellow at the Van Horne Institute, which also sponsored the conference, Automated Vehicles: Planning the Next Disruptive Technology.
Flemming, writing in a previously released study from the institute, cited several times by various speakers at the conference, said that “One of the major headaches for society will be the employment displacement that AV will bring. Direct employment displacement would include these job categories: truck drivers, taxi drivers, bus drivers, auto body repair personnel, those selling auto insurance or adjusting claims, lawyers practising personal injury law relating to autos, traffic police, road safety professionals, tow truck drivers, driving instructors, emergency room staff and trauma medical doctors, rehabilitation doctors and nurses, parking lot attendants and road building companies.”
