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WASHINGTON — As autonomous technology evolves, drivers will remain integral to the movement of goods and services for the foreseeable future, top trucking executives told senators concerned about potential disruptions in the labor force.

A U.S. Senate committee is considering whether legislation dealing with the future of self-driving cars should also pave the way to self-driving trucks, considering the impact such technology could have on millions of workers.

The Trump administration will alter the course set by the Obama administration on autonomous vehicle policy after industry raised concerns about elements of that initial proposal.

Senate negotiators released draft legislation meant to spur the introduction of self-driving vehicles, while indicating they were undecided if their measure would encompass trucks and buses.

Trucking executives and industry observers will lead a discussion on self-driving trucks at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Sept. 13.

State and regional transportation officials largely praised the vote by the U.S. House of Representatives to ease the development of self-driving cars, and the technology associated with them, Sept. 6.

U.S. House lawmakers passed a wide-ranging bill to speed the introduction of self-driving vehicles championed by tech and auto companies racing to develop and deploy the technology.

Workers in the trucking and other industries that move people and goods could find themselves squeezed out of those jobs by the rise of self-driving trucks.

California is the “incubator” for commercial vehicle innovation that will spread throughout the nation, generating a wave of new powertrains and driver-assistance technologies designed to decrease truck emissions and increase safety and freight efficiency, a vehicle engineering consultant said.

Britain is set to conduct road trials of self-driving trucks, involving a “platoon” of vehicles controlled by a driver in the front.