Laboring unruly technology: work, autonomous buses, and ambivalent expectations on the front lines

Automation constitutes a socio-technical project where expectations about the uncertain future of work are formed and negotiated. Rather than focusing on the expectations and imaginaries of elite groups, the spread of automation has made occupational futures a concern for many frontline workers, such as bus drivers. In Stockholm, Sweden, the introduction of autonomous buses generated expectations about changes to established work practices, including work tasks and working time, while also giving rise to expectations concerning new occupational roles, lower status, and the possible displacement of the occupation itself. These expectations were articulated through five distinct versions: legality and safety, job loss and task transformation, skills and occupational identity, precarity and labor markets, as well as gender and family life. By recognizing that there are multiple versions of expectations and that these are situated in work practices while also reflecting broader social implications, it becomes possible to highlight the ambivalent character of these expectations and to show that automation entails more than imaginaries or promissory discourses advanced by elite actors in support of particular socio-technical projects. Taken together, these insights contribute to ongoing debates on automation and the future of work by showing how expectations from below are articulated.