PJ Vogt

Chris Urmson now heads Aurora, which currently has semi-trucks on Texas highways.

And my personal favorite plot development, which just emerged this week.

They say there's no second axe in American lives.

Somehow, both of these men seem to be on their fourth.

The big picture, though, is that everywhere in America today that you see a driver, taxi, truck, food delivery, there are several companies working on the robot version, trying their best to make driver, as a job, start to go the way of the knocker-upper, of the lamplighter.

Those knocker-uppers, by the way, they disappeared quietly.

The lamplighters did not.

Writer Carl Benedict Frey tells the story of the Lamplighters Union, how their strikes plunged New York City briefly into darkness to the delight of lovers and thieves.

In Verviers, Belgium, the Lamplighters' strikes turned violent, ending in an attack on the local police headquarters.

The army was brought in.

The Lamplighters lost their fight, in part just because they were so outnumbered.

But the drivers today, fighting to save their livelihoods, are a significantly bigger force.

4.8 million Americans drive for a living.

It's one of the most common jobs we have.

And these workers do not plan to surrender to the California tech companies.

I understand it is business, it is capitalism, but not in my city at the expense of our jobs.

These drivers are represented by unions, backed by politicians, and in cities across America, blue cities, they're organizing.

So far, they're winning.

Next week, the fight to save a job, to save the human driver.

Don't miss this one.