Why are people sabotaging robot taxis in San Francisco, USA?

In the darkness of the city of San Francisco, a driverless taxi He brakes as masked figures surround him like a hunted animal. One of the men places a cone on the hood: puzzled, the autonomous car turns on its hazard lights and stops in the middle of the lane.

This week, this curious incident has been repeated dozens of times in the US capital of technology. A group of activists have fun disabling robot taxis at night to protest their proliferationa source of friction between the state of California (west) and local councillors.

“We believe that all cars are bad, no matter who or what drives them.”, declares to AFP Alex (not his real name), an idealist from the Safe Street Rebel collective, radically pro-pedestrian and pro-cyclists.

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For him, this futuristic vehicle “not a revolutionary new mode of transportation“, but “another way to establish car dominance” in modern society.

With some simple cones like those used in construction, the group manages to immobilize the Waymo and Cruise robot taxisthe two companies authorized to operate in San Francisco, until the intervention of a technician.

Robot taxis are on the rise in San Francisco. (JOSH EDELSON/)

His action accumulates millions of views on social networks and arouses controversy, just at a time when California is considering allowing these companies to offer a paid service in the city 24 hours a day.

The California Public Utilities Commission, which is responsible for overseeing autonomous vehicles, may soon allow Waymo and Cruise to expand their services. Then they would work like the Uber or Lyft apps, but without the drivers behind the wheel.

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Cradle of autonomous cars

This perspective makes the municipality tremble. San Francisco may be the cradle of autonomous cars -the first began to circulate there in 2014 with a “safety” driver-, but currently the multiplication of incidents with driverless taxis is worrying.

Since a year ago, its testing is no longer legally required to have a human in the vehicle for unforeseen cases. Driving into a Jaguar with no one behind the wheel is part of everyday life, not a science fiction tale.

The total robotization of this experimentation is accompanied by drawbacks. Cars stopped on the highway, blocking the bus line or crashing in the middle of the crime scene Facing Angry Cops: In such cases, Cruise and Waymo vehicles stand out, even if there have been no human fatalities.

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In early June, a Waymo robotic taxi hit and killed a dog who suddenly appeared on the street.

Days later, Aaron Peskin, councilman of the San Francisco legislature, denounced “the CPUC’s hasty decision to allow a massive increase in traffic (from autonomous taxis) on our streets”.

The city opposes the initiative of the state of California, the only one that makes those decisions. This winter, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority sent a letter to the CPUC highlighting the record of 92 car accidents of this type.

And the controversy seems to be established: the CPUC, which at the end of June was going to authorize Waymo and Cruise to expand their services, twice postponed its decision, now scheduled for August 10.

Currently, Cruise can only charge for its services between 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM local time; Waymo can’t bill without a human behind the wheel.

Under this experimental regime, however, the two companies have retained customers.

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Security, center of debate

Jaeden Sterling commutes daily aboard a robot taxi.

“I use them mainly for convenience and safety”, alleges the 18-year-old.

From the back seat of a Waymo car, it monitors vehicles, pedestrians and other cyclists detected in real time by the command software on a screen.

This inspires more confidence that the drivingdangerous” of many drivers from application companies who “They are in a hurry because their salary is based on the number of trips they make.”

The sudden stops of autonomous vehicles seem more like a precautionary action.

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Safety is also the main argument of Waymo and Cruise.

Waymo’s robot taxis have traveledmore than a million kilometers” without “no pedestrian or cyclist collision”, stresses the company to AFP. Regarding collisions with other vehicles, they were cases that “involved rule violations or dangerous behavior by human drivers”.

But some citizens remain cautious.

“Even if they were really safer, what’s the guarantee that a really dangerous bug won’t show up in your output next week?asks Cyrus Hall, 43.

For this computer engineer, current incidents are too important to ignore. Especially since San Francisco serves as an example in a country where they are expanding, with the arrival of autonomous cars in cities like Los Angeles, Phoenix or Austin.

“We know your flaws. Why should we allow a company that produces software that causes such behavior to be widely licensed for use in its vehicles without fixing the problem?”, he sentenced.

Source: Elcomercio