Fully driverless cars still seem about as mythical as unicorns in much of the world, but not in San Francisco where unmanned Cruise and Waymo robotaxis are already in service. Unfortunately, those same cars have been turned into unicorns by a protest group that’s found a simple way to immobilize them.
A group calling itself Safe Street Rebel has discovered that placing a traffic cone on the hood of a robotaxi will disable it, and has posted the evidence to social media to prove the method and inspire other budding protestors to do the same.
The group objects to the deployment of robotaxis, which have hit the headlines multiple times for causing multi-car snarl-ups, crashed into buses and been left stranded by fog. And Safe Street Rebel is only going to get angrier if the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) grants operators freedom to extend the scope of their operations at an upcoming hearing.
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However, a quick look at Safe Street Rebel’s website makes it clear that its beef isn’t only with robotaxis and autonomous cars, but cars period.
“We fight for car-free spaces, transit equity, and the end of car dominance. People, community, and park space must be prioritized over polluting, dangerous & murderous vehicles,” it reads.
“The last half-century has been a failed experiment with car dominance. They bankrupt our cities, ruin our environment, and force working people to sacrifice an unacceptable amount of their income to pay for basic transpiration. It is time to end car dependence and rethink our streets around public transit, walking and bikes.”
The robotaxi companies are predictably annoyed by the group’s reactions.
“Not only is this understanding of how AVs operate incorrect, but this is vandalism and encourages unsafe and disrespectful behavior on our roadways,” Waymo said in a statement to The Drive and Road & Track.
“We will notify law enforcement of any unwanted or unsafe interference of our vehicles on public roadways.”