Recently, concerned citizens in San Francisco, fed up with self-driving cars, sought to disable them by placing orange safety cones on the hoods and calling the action part of the “Week of Cone.”
The vigilante group, Safe Street Rebel, was protesting against the self-driving cars owned by Waymo and Cruise, which were hoping that a vote by a state commission panel on July 13 would allow them to expand their robotaxi operations in the city, according to ABC 7.
The group believes this expansion will increase the number of cars in the city, the vehicles are unsafe to pedestrians, and they block traffic such as buses and emergency vehicles. “As a pedestrian, I am concerned,” one of the members told ABC 7. “I see them stop and open their doors in the bike lane. I feel rushed when crossing the street in front of them. If I take the bus, I wonder if it will stall and all 40 of us will be stuck behind it.
A group of San Franciscans realized that they can disable Waymo and Cruise robotaxis by placing a traffic cone on the vehicle's hood.
They're now encouraging others to do it: "Hell no, we do not consent to this." pic.twitter.com/ZrYhy4OATy
— David Zipper (@DavidZipper) July 6, 2023
Safe Street Rebel, posted its cone ops on Instagram, seemed able to stop the cars because the cones block LIDAR devices on the car’s roof, according to Motherboard.
Because it’s actually as easy as finding a cone and putting it on the hood.
It’s really not that hard.
“We view these not as some revolutionary new mode of transportation or anything, but really just another way for auto companies… to further entrench car dominance and car reliance in our cities,” one group member told Motherboard.
Those in other states have also grown wary of self-driving cars, such as residents in Tempe, Arizona where an angry pedestrian attacked a Waymo vehicle and driver last year, according to The Verge. Arizona has been a hot bed for attacks by irate residents because Waymo has deployed self-driving vehicles there for several years.
Waymo called the traffic cones dangerous, even describing them as a form of vandalism, according to ABC 7. Cruise declared the protests are threatening its efforts to help the community, like giving free rides to service workers late at night, recovering food waste from businesses, and providing meals to the poor.
Charity aside, self-driving cars seeking to expand their reach will likely fuel more urgent (and, uh, pretty creative) protests.