No one was in Waymo’s driverless taxi as it was surrounded and set on fire in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

A person jumped on the hood of a Waymo driverless taxi and smashed its windshield in San Francisco’s Chinatown last night around 9PM PT, generating applause before a crowd formed around the car and covered it in spray paint, breaking its windows, and ultimately set it on fire.

The fire takes place against the backdrop of simmering tension between San Francisco residents and automated vehicle operators. The California DMV suspended Waymo rival Cruise’s robotaxi operations after one of its cars struck and dragged a pedestrian last year, and prior to that, automated taxis had caused chaos in the city, blocking traffic or crashing into a fire truck. Just last week, a Waymo car struck a cyclist who had reportedly been following behind a truck turning across its path.

  • CarbonScored [any]
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    4 months ago

    This is the company that three years ago, the big Youtube channel Veritasium did a huge sponsored video on. He made statements during (and afterwards outside the video) essentially implying anyone against driverless cars was an objective idiot.

  • Bloobish [comrade/them]
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    404 months ago

    elmofire

    Also

    The fire takes place against the backdrop of simmering tension between San Francisco residents and automated vehicle operators. The California DMV suspended Waymo rival Cruise’s robotaxi operations after one of its cars struck and dragged a pedestrian last year, and prior to that, automated taxis had caused chaos in the city, blocking traffic or crashing into a fire truck.

    Wow so this was legit community defense against tech bro bullshit, love to see that people won’t allow themselves to be used like test driving manikins by sociopaths!

  • 420blazeit69 [he/him]
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    4 months ago

    A great action:

    1. Documented public safety issue.
    2. Prominent example of “if I did this shit (reckless driving) I’d get arrested but it’s a big company so it’s allowed.”
    3. No material benefit to the participants, which cuts down on openings for opportunists/accusations of opportunism.
    4. No worker is directly involved on the receiving end.
    5. Accurately identified a target of real public ire.
    6. Minimal inconvenience to ordinary people.
  • @SSJ2Marx@hexbear.net
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    294 months ago

    This is great but it would be even more great if they took their rage out on the politicians who greenlit testing this bullshit on public roads to begin with.

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
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        14 months ago

        I recently learned that Lynch really didn’t like the final version of his Dune and I really wish I could see what he would have come up with if he’d been able to do more.

        Also, I want to see Michael Kirkbride’s Dune.

  • regul [any]
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    214 months ago

    Normally when SF wins or loses a national sports championship, it’s a Muni bus, so I consider this a huge improvement.

  • HexBroke [any, comrade/them]
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    84 months ago

    A video posted by the FriscoLive415 YouTube channel shows the burnt-out husk of the electric Waymo Jaguar.

    Water is great for a lithium battery fire, right?