{"id":24873,"date":"2024-02-11T22:55:29","date_gmt":"2024-02-11T22:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/11\/videos-show-san-francisco-crowd-destroying-waymo-robotaxi\/"},"modified":"2024-02-11T22:55:29","modified_gmt":"2024-02-11T22:55:29","slug":"videos-show-san-francisco-crowd-destroying-waymo-robotaxi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/11\/videos-show-san-francisco-crowd-destroying-waymo-robotaxi\/","title":{"rendered":"Videos show San Francisco crowd destroying Waymo robotaxi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/content.fortune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/GettyImages-1247366993-e1707679010873.jpg?w=2048\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>In San Francisco\u2019s Chinatown, amid Lunar New Year celebrations, a crowd surrounded the autonomous vehicle, broke its windows, and set off fireworks inside it, setting it ablaze. Firefighters called to the scene <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SFFDPIO\/status\/1756581720399520077\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sc-bd4ab706-0 dXixpY styledLinkColor \">reported<\/a> the vehicle had also been graffitied.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>One <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Gia_Vang\/status\/1756569968265847043\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sc-bd4ab706-0 dXixpY styledLinkColor \">video<\/a>\u2014posted to <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/twitter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sc-bd4ab706-0 dXixpY styledLinkColor \">X<\/a> by NBC Bay Area\u2019s Gia Vang\u2014shows a crowd cheering as someone starts to break the car\u2019s windows with a skateboard.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">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. <\/p>\n<p>Waymo said \u201ca crowd surrounded and vandalized the vehicle, breaking the window and throwing a firework \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6QN2jTppRu\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sc-bd4ab706-0 dXixpY styledLinkColor \">pic.twitter.com\/6QN2jTppRu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Gia Vang (@Gia_Vang) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Gia_Vang\/status\/1756569968265847043?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sc-bd4ab706-0 dXixpY styledLinkColor \">February 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Another posted to <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/youtube\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sc-bd4ab706-0 dXixpY styledLinkColor \">YouTube<\/a> channel Frisco Live 415 shows firefighters working at the scene.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p><iframe title=\"Raw Footage: Waymo vehicle torched in Chinatown San Francisco\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4SJO3EbR-_w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe vehicle was not transporting any riders and no injuries have been reported,\u201d a Waymo spokesperson told <em>Fortune<\/em>. \u201cWe are working closely with local safety officials to respond to the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s hard to say at this point whether the incident was the result of celebrations getting out of hand or malice toward robotaxis. But the presence of such vehicles on the roads has created a divide in San Francisco.<\/p>\n<p>Waymo, part of <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/alphabet\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sc-bd4ab706-0 dXixpY styledLinkColor \">Google<\/a> parent Alphabet, offers its fully autonomous Waymo One ride-hailing service 24\/7 across San Francisco. It also operates in <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/waymo\/answer\/9059119?hl=en\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sc-bd4ab706-0 dXixpY styledLinkColor \">parts of Phoenix<\/a>, is ramping up operations in Los Angeles and Austin, and is trying to expand to other areas.<\/p>\n<p>In San Francisco, some residents have protested autonomous vehicles by placing traffic cones on their hoods, causing them to stop. The practice was encouraged in an X video <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SafeStreetRebel\/status\/1676695670982590465\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sc-bd4ab706-0 dXixpY styledLinkColor \">post<\/a> last July by a group called Safe Street Rebel ahead of a vote to expand AVs in the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The group wrote, \u201cCruise &amp; Waymo promise they\u2019ll reduce traffic &amp; collisions, but we know that\u2019s not true. They block busses &amp; emergency vehicles, create more traffic, and are a surveillance nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In October, city official suspended the license of Waymo rival Cruise, which GM acquired in 2016. That followed an accident in which a Cruise robotaxi dragged a pedestrian 20 feet, with authorities feeling the company didn\u2019t do enough to make them aware of this fact. A later report <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2024\/01\/25\/gm-admits-cruise-robotaxi-debacle-report-failings-california\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sc-bd4ab706-0 dXixpY styledLinkColor \">criticized<\/a> Cruise\u2019s \u201cnontransparent approach to its disclosure obligations\u201d to authorities investigating the accident.<\/p>\n<p>The incident <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2023-11-22\/cruise-collapse-shows-gm-mary-barra-aren-t-ready-to-compete-with-big-tech\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sc-bd4ab706-0 dXixpY styledLinkColor \">embarrassed<\/a> GM CEO Mary Barra, whose plan to double the carmaker\u2019s revenue by the end of the decade involves making it more of a tech company. Cruise had been projected to hit $50 billion in revenue by 2030, but now that\u2019s up in the air with GM having <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2023\/10\/27\/gm-cruise-grounds-entire-fleet-driverless-vehicles-earn-public-trust-california-suspension-high-profile-accidents\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sc-bd4ab706-0 dXixpY styledLinkColor \">grounded the entire fleet<\/a> \u201cto earn public trust.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-cy=\"subscriptionPlea\">Subscribe to the Eye on AI newsletter to stay abreast of how AI is shaping the future of business. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fortune.com\/newsletters\/eye-on-ai?&amp;itm_source=fortune&amp;itm_medium=article_tout&amp;itm_campaign=eye_on_ai\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sc-bd4ab706-0 dXixpY styledLinkColor \">Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2024\/02\/11\/waymo-robotaxi-destroyed-by-crowd-san-francisco\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In San Francisco\u2019s Chinatown, amid Lunar New Year celebrations, a crowd surrounded the autonomous vehicle, broke its windows, and set off fireworks inside it, setting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[170],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}