The human offense against the robotic takeover begins.
A viral video on X shows a person going full ‘Donkey Kong’ on an autonomous Waymo vehicle in the crime-ridden downtown area of San Francisco over the weekend. This plays into a much larger trend of people lashing out against self-driving cars.
Local media outlet KRON4 said the fully autonomous Jaguar I-Pace was near Market and Dolores streets when a person jumped on the hood and started “stomping the front windshield in an attempt to break it open.”
Californian vs Waymo…
Another Day, Another Crimepic.twitter.com/jnNgxKswfs
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) April 22, 2024
This isn’t the first time driverless vehicles have been targeted. A video from earlier this year shows a crowd in Chinatown torching a Waymo Jaguar on Jackson Street, between Stockton and Grant.
BREAKING: An autonomous Waymo vehicle is intentionally set on fire in Chinatown, according to SF Fire. Firefighters said they got reports around 10 people were involved.
Waymo said “a crowd surrounded and vandalized the vehicle, breaking the window and throwing a firework … pic.twitter.com/6QN2jTppRu
— Gia Vang (@Gia_Vang) February 11, 2024
A video late last year shows another robotaxi being attacked by a person with a hammer.
Someone seen destroying a RoboTaxi in San Francisco this weekend.
What do you think, hero or villain?
?: @caterywta on IG pic.twitter.com/KTdwGKrgWF
— (((BrokeAssStuart))) (@BrokeAssStuart) September 11, 2023
Last summer, we pointed out that members of Safe Street Rebels, a group that says these cars are “polluting, dangerous & murderous,” were coning driverless cars across the city.
Week of Cone – Night One was a hit! Keep sending in your coning submissions ? pic.twitter.com/c4KZLbFvhy
— Safe Street Rebel (@SafeStreetRebel) July 6, 2023
We have cited some X users who believe “The AI crusades have begun.”
Why would people rise up against machines? As Goldman explained a little over a year ago, “AI Will Lead To 300 Million Layoffs In The US And Europe.“
