Self-driving cars should be taxed to offset job losses, thinktank urges
Report says widespread autonomous vehicle adoption would put hundreds of thousands of private hire jobs at risk Taxes on self-driving cars should be introduced now in the UK to offset the rise in congestion and threats to jobs they pose, a thinktank has urged. The first robotaxis on London’s streets only started this month , but government projections are that up to 40% of cars sold could have…
A thinktank is urging the introduction of taxes on self-driving cars in the UK to offset potential job losses and congestion. The Centre for British Progress highlights that up to 40% of cars sold by the middle of the next decade could have autonomous capabilities. This could put hundreds of thousands of private hire jobs at risk, as well as increase car usage and congestion.
Introducing charges now could ease the transition and provide future revenue to replace dwindling fuel duty. The report notes that Wayve, a British tech firm, would "penalise the UK’s most promising innovators" with such a tax. With fuel duty projected to disappear with the transition to electric vehicles, an AV charge set to match the social cost of congestion could raise £47bn per year by 2050.
However, the GMB union representing taxi and private hire drivers argues that a tax on AVs would not go far enough and calls for a plan to reskill and redeploy drivers affected by the rollout of these vehicles.
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