Slashdot Mirror
People Are Harassing Waymo's Self-Driving Vehicles (usatoday.com)
Waymo's testing dozens of self-driving mini-vans near Phoenix. Now the Arizona Republic asks why the vehicles are getting so much hate, citing "a slashed tire, a pointed gun, bullies on the road..."
"Police have responded to dozens of calls regarding people threatening and harassing Waymo vans." That was clear August 19, when police were called because a 37-year-old man who police described as "heavily intoxicated" was standing in front of a Waymo and not allowing the van to proceed. "He stated he was sick and tired of the Waymo vehicles driving in his neighborhood, and apparently thought the best idea to resolve this was to stand in front of one of these vehicles," Officer Richard Rimbach wrote in a report.
Phil Simon, an information systems lecturer at Arizona State University and author of several books on technology, said angst from residents is probably less about how the Waymo vans drive and more about people frustrated with what Waymo represents. "This stuff is happening fast and a lot of people are concerned that technology is going to run them out of a job," Simon said. Simon said it is hard for middle-class people to celebrate technological breakthroughs like self-driving cars if they have seen their own wages stagnate or even decline in recent years. "There are always winners and losers, and these are probably people who are afraid and this is a way for them to fight back in some small, futile way," Simon said. "Something tells me these are not college professors or vice presidents who are doing well."
Police used video footage from Waymo to identify the license plate of a Jeep that kept driving head-on toward Waymo's test car -- six different times, one in which the driver then slammed on the brakes, jumped out of their car, and demanded that Waymo get out of their neighborhood. Another local resident told the newspaper that "Everybody hates Waymo drivers. They are dangerous." On four separate occasions, people have thrown rocks.
A 69-year-old man was even arrested for pointing a revolver at the test driver in a passing Waymo car. He later told police he was trying to scare Waymo's driver, and "stated that he despises and hates those cars." He was charged with aggravated assault and disorderly conduct. The man's wife told reporters he'd been diagnosed with dementia, but the Arizona Republic calls it "one of at least 21 interactions documented by local police during the past two years where people have harassed the autonomous vehicles and their human test drivers," adding "There may be many undocumented instances where people threatened Waymo drivers..."
"The self-driving vans use radar, lidar and cameras to navigate, so they capture footage of all interactions that usually is clear enough to identify people and read license plates," the paper adds. (Waymo later cites its "ongoing work" with communities "including Arizona law enforcement and first responders.") When one local news crew followed Waymo vehicles for 170 miles to critique their driving, a Waymo driver eventually pulled into a police station "because the driver was concerned we might've been harassing them. After they learned we were with the media, they let us go on our way."
"Police have responded to dozens of calls regarding people threatening and harassing Waymo vans." That was clear August 19, when police were called because a 37-year-old man who police described as "heavily intoxicated" was standing in front of a Waymo and not allowing the van to proceed. "He stated he was sick and tired of the Waymo vehicles driving in his neighborhood, and apparently thought the best idea to resolve this was to stand in front of one of these vehicles," Officer Richard Rimbach wrote in a report.
Phil Simon, an information systems lecturer at Arizona State University and author of several books on technology, said angst from residents is probably less about how the Waymo vans drive and more about people frustrated with what Waymo represents. "This stuff is happening fast and a lot of people are concerned that technology is going to run them out of a job," Simon said. Simon said it is hard for middle-class people to celebrate technological breakthroughs like self-driving cars if they have seen their own wages stagnate or even decline in recent years. "There are always winners and losers, and these are probably people who are afraid and this is a way for them to fight back in some small, futile way," Simon said. "Something tells me these are not college professors or vice presidents who are doing well."
Police used video footage from Waymo to identify the license plate of a Jeep that kept driving head-on toward Waymo's test car -- six different times, one in which the driver then slammed on the brakes, jumped out of their car, and demanded that Waymo get out of their neighborhood. Another local resident told the newspaper that "Everybody hates Waymo drivers. They are dangerous." On four separate occasions, people have thrown rocks.
A 69-year-old man was even arrested for pointing a revolver at the test driver in a passing Waymo car. He later told police he was trying to scare Waymo's driver, and "stated that he despises and hates those cars." He was charged with aggravated assault and disorderly conduct. The man's wife told reporters he'd been diagnosed with dementia, but the Arizona Republic calls it "one of at least 21 interactions documented by local police during the past two years where people have harassed the autonomous vehicles and their human test drivers," adding "There may be many undocumented instances where people threatened Waymo drivers..."
"The self-driving vans use radar, lidar and cameras to navigate, so they capture footage of all interactions that usually is clear enough to identify people and read license plates," the paper adds. (Waymo later cites its "ongoing work" with communities "including Arizona law enforcement and first responders.") When one local news crew followed Waymo vehicles for 170 miles to critique their driving, a Waymo driver eventually pulled into a police station "because the driver was concerned we might've been harassing them. After they learned we were with the media, they let us go on our way."
People Are Harassing Waymo's Self-Driving Vehicles
Self-Driving Vehicles Are Harassing Waymo's People . . . would be more interesting.
Self-Driving Vehicles Are Harassing Waymo's Self-Driving Vehicles . . . would be the pinnacle.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Why don’t communities vote on whether Waymo is allowed to drive in their town/neighborhood/street? Waymo could take the lead here and conduct the vote. Instead, they’re relying on lawyers, cops and greasy politicians, none of whom represent the people they’re charged with serving.
There are much better ways of protesting than throwing rocks or pointing guns at the vehicle itself.
They are not protesting. They are just venting their anger. It is only directed an Waymo because they aren't sure who else to blame.
Protesting only makes sense when you can articulate an alternative. That isn't happening here.
Automation is not going to go away no matter how they attack it.
Then what is the point in protesting? It is going to happen no matter what. That is why they are angry.
These are dumb and crazy people, frustrated with their lives, believing (correctly) that nobody gives a crap about them. Even voting for Trump didn't fix their problems. So now they are lashing out at a symbol of the world passing them by.
To wit, has anyone considered the fallout to occur from thousands of radar units blasting people with small amounts of radiation, every day?
Yes, they have, and it's negligible.
You want to know what blasts people with large amounts of harmful radiation every day? The sun. It causes skin cancer in everyone who doesn't die of something else first. If you want to worry about radiation damage, start there.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
Hopefully those kids will grow tired of it before they grow into adults.
They will grow tired of it in about an hour. People rapidly adjust to new things. Some people rag on self-driving cars, but nobody is complaining about self-driving elevators and phones that no longer need human switchboard operators. Certainly no one complains about the automatic looms that riled up the original Luddites.
They only complain about the "new" thing, and stop when it is no longer new.
Sorry, but you need to read about the protests against cars when horses started being replaced. This is one (of a number of) normal human reaction(s) to unforeseen changes. And that they didn't foresee it tells you about the kind of person they are.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
I don't like Google Recaptcha either. But what in hell does that have to do with their cars?
What people don't like about automated cars is their scrupulously careful driving habits, which puts them in the way of garden-variety asshole motorists. The need for this will gradually go away as fewer and fewer human drivers share the road with them.
I think Waymo should take this as a learning experience; if their cars act human, than there is no problem. But they don't currently, so people don't like them. Do we not all want these cars to act human and therefore come close to being as safe as one?
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.