play videoplay video

The incident of the burning of a self-driving Waymo taxi that got stuck in traffic on a San Francisco street has been renewed. Concerns about the safety and security of the use of self-driving taxis are increasing, according to Reuters.

The incident began when the Waymo self-driving taxi decided to head towards the intersection of two crowded streets on Saturday evening, when crowds were blocking all sides and revelers were lighting fireworks, according to two witnesses. Minutes later, some of the crowd attacked the car and set it on fire.

Perhaps it was the decision of a seasoned San Francisco taxi driver to avoid the intersection of Jackson Street and Grant Street in the heart of the city's Chinatown on the first day of Chinese New Year.

"Most regular motorists know they should avoid Chinatown during the Lunar New Year holiday, but the computer doesn't understand that," said San Francisco Board of Supervisors Chairman Aaron Peskin, who has called for more regulation of self-driving car traffic.

The incident highlighted the limited ability of robotic cars to make decisions, and revived concerns about increased reliance on them on the streets for a range of reasons, such as concerns about safety, the jobs they may take from human drivers, and concerns about the capabilities of artificial intelligence, according to Reuters.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed described the Waymo Chinatown incident as a "dangerous and devastating act of vandalism" and praised the city's role as a testing ground for the development of self-driving cars.

“In San Francisco, we are home to exciting and emerging technologies, like autonomous vehicles, that are changing the world,” Breed said.

The burning of a Waymo car owned by Alphabet comes after an accident in which another Waymo car hit a cyclist last week (Reuters)

The destruction and burning of the Waymo vehicle - owned by Alphabet, the parent company of Google - comes after an accident that occurred last week in which another Waymo vehicle hit a cyclist.

In October 2023, a self-driving car, made by Cruise, which is owned by General Motors, hit a pedestrian and dragged him 6 meters, after which the authorities in California suspended Cruise's driverless test driving license.

University of South Carolina professor Bryant Walker Smith, who has expertise in autonomous vehicle law, said: The accident raises a legitimate question: Are self-driving cars able or should be able to detect and avoid areas crowded with pedestrians?

“I would be interested to hear from Waymo about how its technology handles these types of events,” he said.

The company previously described the vandalism incident as an isolated case, but another Waymo passenger told Reuters that he rode a Waymo car the next day in another crowd in San Francisco and was also subjected to fireworks being fired at the vehicle.

“As soon as the crowd saw the Waymo car, they started pointing right at it,” said Nathan Flory, who recorded the scene.

After Saturday's incident, Waymo videos spread on social media, one of which showed a fire truck on its way to the accident site. A Fire Department spokesman confirmed that the Waymo vehicle partially closed the road, and San Francisco police are investigating the vandalism incident that occurred on the Waymo vehicle on Saturday, as the motives of the attackers were not clear.

Some observers saw the incident as a sign of growing dissatisfaction with self-driving cars and other artificial intelligence technologies.

“We see people reaching a boiling point about technology they don't want and doesn't make their lives better,” said Missy Cummings, director of the Center for Autonomy and Robotics at George Mason University and former adviser to US traffic safety regulators.

City Supervisor Peskin said it may not have been an "anti-technology thing," but rather just a criminal incident by a "group of bad guys."

Just before the attack on Waymo, the streets were largely empty of cars as pedestrians flocked to the fireworks. A witness said that some vehicles turned or retreated after seeing the crowds, and some cars were sneaking through the intersection periodically, as the crowds dispersed to allow them to pass.

Michael Vandy, another witness, said the Waymo car was attacked when it stopped after approaching the crowd, resulting in two cars being trapped behind it. The crowd quickly became tense, "so a guy in a white jacket jumped on the hood of the car and literally hit the windshield WWA style," referring to professional wrestling, and a melee broke out, with people covering the car with graffiti and smashing its windows. They shot fireworks at her.

California Senator Dave Cortez, who is proposing legislation to give local governments more power to regulate self-driving cars, said the fact that a car is being driven in a crowded area during fireworks underscores the technology's shortcomings. He added: "What has become very clear is that autonomous vehicle technology is not as advanced as the industry would like us to believe."

Source: Reuters