Lighting firecrackers is one of the unique cultural touchstones that signify the celebration of the Lunar New Year, but during celebrations surrounding the holiday earlier this year in one of the oldest Chinatowns in the United States, things got ugly for something that is not controlled by a human being.
Amid the raucous celebration in San Francisco's historic Chinatown on February 10, a sensor-laden Jaguar I-Pace operated by Google (GOOGLE) Self-driving robotaxi company Waymo was left charred on city streets after a crowd vandalized and set fire to the vehicle after fireworks were left to light inside the car.
Michael Vandi, who witnessed the commotion, told Reuters that the incident began when a person jumped on the hood of the Waymo and broke the windshield. Thirty seconds later, he noticed the crowd cheering for someone else as he did the same. He noted to the news service that people fed off the energy of the crowd and added that he felt like nothing could stop it.
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“That's when he went crazy,” witness Michael Vandi told Reuters, describing people with skateboards breaking the Jaguar's glass and others painting graffiti on the car.
“There were two groups of people. People who cheered him on, and others who were just shocked and started filming. No one stood up; I mean, there was nothing you could do to face dozens of people.”
The golden key to Tesla's robotaxi
tesla (TSLA) Shares rose nearly 7% after the market opened on Monday, Nov. 18, with shares boosted by indicators that the “first friend” relationship between President-elect Donald J. Trump and Elon Musk is paying off that will benefit Tesla's affairs.
According to a Bloomberg report, which was first published on the evening of November 17, members of Trump's transition team told the financial publication that the next administration plans to make a federal framework for autonomous vehicles a priority next year. transportation department. .
Currently, rules imposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Association are a major hurdle for companies trying to deploy large numbers of cars without steering wheels or pedals, like Tesla's sleek Cybercab robotaxi, on American roads.
Related: Elon Musk's appointment of Trump may be a bad omen for Tesla
According to people familiar with the Trump team's plans, the Don intends to fill the DOT with people who can help develop legal rules regulating autonomous vehicles nationwide.
Although these rules may benefit established robotaxi institutions like General Motors' Cruise service or Google's Waymo, confident messages from Tesla bulls like Wedbush's Dan Ives indicate that this move is intended to benefit the converted electric vehicle company. in the company of Musk's autonomy.
“This would be a big step toward easing U.S. rules for autonomous vehicles and would be an important tailwind for Tesla's autonomous and ai vision heading into 2025,” Ives wrote in an analyst note late afternoon. on November 17. “Musk's significant influence on Trump's White House is already having a major influence and ultimately, the golden path for Tesla around cybercabs and autonomous vehicles is now within our reach with an emboldened strategic alliance between Trump and Musk that unfolds in real time.”
Waymo's vandalism and violence dilemma is caused by Waymo's mistakes
Although San Francisco Mayor London Breed has denounced the February 10 incident as “a dangerous and destructive act of vandalism,” the incident is not a random act of violence provoked by a bored population.
Previous incidents involving autonomous robotaxis roaming city streets have created tension among San Francisco residents, who have been recovering from some very tragic situations caused by autonomous vehicles before the Lunar New Year fiasco.
Earlier that same month, on February 6, a burnt-out Jaguar-like Waymo struck a cyclist after failing to spot him at the intersection of 17th and Mississippi streets in the Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco. According to Waymo, the cyclist, who was riding behind a truck, was not detected by the car's computer while waiting for a large truck to turn toward the four-way stop.
“The bicyclist was blocked by the truck and quickly followed it, moving into the path of the Waymo vehicle,” said Waymo spokesperson Julia Ilina. “When they became fully visible, our vehicle braked hard but was unable to avoid the collision.”
The cyclist reported minor injuries.
Related: Waymo's robotaxi fleet is the subject of new federal investigation after multiple incidents
Due to incidents like this, Waymo is currently the subject of a federal investigation. On May 13, NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation said it opened an investigation into Waymo after receiving 22 reports of its robotaxis, equipped with the company's fifth-generation autonomous driving systems, being “the only vehicle operated during a collision” or had “exhibited driving behavior that potentially violated traffic safety laws.”
Reported incidents included “collisions with stationary and semi-stationary objects, such as doors and chains” and others in which Waymos crashed into parked cars. Other incidents also include a collision that occurred “shortly after” his vehicle's self-driving system “exhibited unexpected behavior” near traffic safety control devices.
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Tesla's problems present another challenge
Tesla's situation is much worse despite not having any Robotaxis on the roads yet.
The autonomous robotaxi will use Tesla's patented Full-Self Driving technology, which already has a lot of scrutiny behind it.
On October 18, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened a probe on 2.4 million Teslas with the brand's full self-driving software after four reported collisions, including one fatal accident that was reported to the agency.
According to the agency, it opened the investigation after being informed of four separate incidents in which Teslas crashed when the FSD was activated in visual conditions not ideal for driving, including sun glare, fog or airborne dust. . In two separate cases, a Tesla vehicle with FSD activated fatally struck a pedestrian, while an injury was reported in another accident.
Related: Tesla Employees Shared Horror Stories Behind Their Illusionary Product
Additionally, a group of current and former Tesla employees known as Project Rodeo spoke out and shared details about their jobs as Tesla test drivers testing the absolute limits of the brand's Autopilot and Full Self-Driving software. According to one of its test drivers, the group often found itself in situations that could lead to a collision.
Despite never having been in an accident with FSD or Autopilot engaged, test drivers say they had to explore the limits of their safety nets to keep their jobs. Test drivers often engaged in risky and downright dangerous behavior in public streets with other drivers, including, but not limited to, speeding, crossing double yellow lines, and running stop signs and red lights.
The anti-robotaxis backlash is serious and Tesla could be next
Although pranksters have exposed holes in Waymo's self-driving software system as a joke, the active backlash against robotaxis and their deployment in cities like San Francisco is real.
In a statement to Reuters after the Lunar New Year incident involving a San Francisco Waymo in February, Missy Cummings, director of the Center for Robotics and Autonomy at George Mason University and former adviser to US traffic safety regulators .U.S., identified the incident as an example of growing and explicit discontent toward autonomous vehicles and other artificial intelligence technologies.
See the original article for embedded media.
“We're seeing people reach a boiling point over technology they don't want and that doesn't improve their lives,” he said.
Prior to the LNY incident, an anti-car activist group called SafeStreetRebel gained notoriety after it began placing cones on top of Waymos and Cruise vehicles as a method of protesting those companies.
“We want (autonomous vehicles) not to circulate on city streets at all or to be very limited. We see them already causing enormous disruption,” a SafeStreetRebel activist told the San Francisco Standard in July 2023. “It's as if the state has decided that these things are going to be deployed in San Francisco without the consent of the city or its residents.”
Tesla, Inc., trading on the NASDAQ as TSLA, is up 7.03% since the opening bell, trading at $343.28 per share.
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