<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4UFME2_0vkq7caI00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4UFME2_0vkq7caI00" width="1296" height="687" >The latest SF anti-self-driving car shenanigans were captured on a now-viral video where a team of taggers gangs up on a Waymo and tags the bejesus out of the vehicle, while a passenger and a little dog are stuck nervously inside.There are few issues in San Francisco more polarizing than self-driving robot cars, and whether we should be rolling out the red carpet for them, or pushing back against billion-dollar corporations using SF as their guinea pig while the robot cars work out their numerous flaws. The latest episode in this unfolding conflict is captured in a KTVU report on a Waymo being thoroughly tagged while a passenger sits inside, in an incident that happened in the Mission District. Whomever took the original video has taken great care to not show the vandals’ faces, and the one tagger whose face can be seen briefly is masked.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">This is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen <a href="https://t.co/EsIzK4UXba">pic.twitter.com/EsIzK4UXba</a>— Justin🦩Boldaji (@justinboldaji) <a href="https://twitter.com/justinboldaji/status/1838666014319612076?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 24, 2024</a><input type="image" src="empty.gif" style="opacity:0" onerror="s=document.createElement(&quot;script&quot;);s.src=&quot;https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js&quot;;document.body.appendChild(s);"></blockquote>The origin of this video is highly uncertain. Of course on Elon Musk’s X, many hucksters are swiping it and claiming it as their own video. It is watermarked as belonging to a TikTok account called “stunseed415,” though the account with that name has no content posted. One swiped version of the video below even claims the video was taken in Los Angeles (where Waymo does operate, but still on a wait list) though there are background signifiers that this is definitely in SF’s Mission District.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">LA Graffiti artist tag up self driving waymo with man and his puppy inside 🐶 <a href="https://t.co/MU52KlmMOV">pic.twitter.com/MU52KlmMOV</a>— Marco Watts (@MarcoWatts_) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarcoWatts_/status/1839128026040217961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 26, 2024</a><input type="image" src="empty.gif" style="opacity:0" onerror="s=document.createElement(&quot;script&quot;);s.src=&quot;https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js&quot;;document.body.appendChild(s);"></blockquote>KTVU confirmed with SFPD that this happened in San Francisco, though did not give a precise date. The website Futurism got a statement from SFPD, who acknowledged that this actually happened to three Waymos. "[A]n online police report was filed on behalf of an autonomous vehicle operator," an SFPD spokesperson told Futurism. "The reportee stated that there were three separate incidents of vandalism on three different autonomous vehicles." Waymo certainly has more surveillance video of this than do the TikTok types. "All of it is recorded by the vehicle,” SF State autonomous vehicle professor Billy Riggs tells KTVU. “The automated vehicles companies have agreed in many cases to work with law enforcement when their vehicles are targeted.”<blockquote>Please don't vandalize or bring your dogs in Waymosbyu/okgusto inwaymo</blockquote>The r/waymo crowd on Reddit is making an issue of the little dog, saying “Please don't vandalize or bring your dogs in Waymos.” The dog may or may not be legal. Waymo’s dog policy states that “Only a dog or miniature horse that has been trained to perform work or tasks for a person with a disability are service animals. All other animals, including emotional support or therapy animals, are not allowed to ride in our cars.”“Miniature horse”? Would the vandals have struck if there were a lil’ tiny horse in the front seat? I suspect they would not have! If anyone out there takes tiny little horses onto Waymo, oh I will gladly buy you drinks to hear your horse-on-a-Waymo stories. But the safety of the passenger is obviously the paramount issue here. "Conceivably they would not have been able to access the people in those vehicles," Riggs added to KTVU. "So, I do think those occupants didn't have anything to worry about, and we have to remember that there is always a customer service representative available if you're riding in one of these vehicles."Yes, but human customer service? I’d be shocked if any Google/Alphabet company offered anything resembling human customer support in any of their divisions, their whole point is to automate everything. But incidents like this might serve as a wake-up call for Waymo to have actual human operators standing by — in case of tagging, or worse. </div></body>

Mountain View, CA

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Waymo Gets Tagged With Rider (and Little Dog) Still Inside in Mission District

The latest SF anti-self-driving car shenanigans were captured on a now-viral video where a team of taggers gangs up on a Waymo and tags the bejesus out of the vehicle, while a passenger and a little dog are stuck nervously inside. There are few issues in San Francisco more polarizing...