Californians appear to have nearly had it with self-driving vehicles. If it’s not authorities probes into their actions on the roads, it’s locals popping visitors cones on their hoods to cease them of their tracks. Now, the anti-autonomous automobile motion has stepped up a notch and set fireplace to a Waymo cab in San Francisco.
According to a report from CNBC News, crowds within the Bay Area determined sufficient was sufficient and set a Waymo cab ablaze this weekend. CNBC stories {that a} window on the Waymo automobile was smashed and a firework was thrown inside, sending the automobile up in smoke. According to to CNBC:
Waymo mentioned that round 9 p.m. native time on Saturday (0500 GMT Sunday), somebody in a crowd broke a automobile window and threw a firework inside, setting the car ablaze. Waymo didn’t say what brought on the group to assault the automobile.
Video footage on social media confirmed the electrical car burning, sending up an enormous plume of black smoke.
“The vehicle was not transporting any riders and no injuries have been reported. We are working closely with local safety officials to respond to the situation,” the corporate mentioned.
It’s not but identified what sparked the assault on the Waymo self driving cab and fireplace officers within the space have now handed the case onto the native police pressure who will presumably try to unravel it.
According to an eye-witness that Reuters spoke with, the incident occurred whereas revelers had been celebrating the Lunar New Year within the metropolis heart. One particular person the positioning spoke with defined that folks had been setting off fireworks to mark the event, however issues quickly “went wild.” According to Reuters:
Michael Vandi, a witness who posted movies of the incident, informed Reuters that folks had been celebrating China’s Lunar New Year by setting off fireworks. An individual jumped onto the hood of the Waymo car and broke its windshield. Another particular person additionally jumped on the hood 30 seconds later as some within the crowd clapped in approval, he informed Reuters in an X direct message.
“That was when it went WILD,” he wrote, describing individuals with skateboards breaking the glass and others graffitiing the automobile. “There were 2 groups of people. Folks who encourage it – and others who were just shocked & started filming. No one stood up – i mean there wasn’t anything you could do to stand up to dozens of people.”
Thankfully, the car was not transporting any passengers on the time of the blaze, and Waymo is now not required to have a security driver in every of its autos. As such, the corporate says there have been no reported accidents following the hearth.
While figuring out the reason for the hearth is now within the arms of native cops, it’s clear that the blaze has come at a time of heightened tensions between self-driving taxi corporations and San Francisco residents.
The assault comes lower than every week after a Waymo automobile hit a bike owner within the metropolis and follows months of backlash towards self-driving vehicles that was sparked when a Cruise autonomous cab hit a pedestrian who was thrown into its path by one other car.
Source: jalopnik.com