An unmanned Waymo robotaxi in San Francisco’s Marina District was surrounded by a large, cheering crowd late at night, with individuals jumping off and climbing onto the vehicle. Multiple Waymo vehicles stalled amid the crowd’s interference. San Francisco police arrived around 2 a.m., cleared the crowd, and allowed the vehicle to resume movement. Waymo confirmed the vehicle was unoccupied and not visibly damaged, and condemned vandalism. Transportation expert Selika Josiah Talbott warned that such behavior is dangerous, illegal, risks serious injury, and could teach artificial intelligence to misinterpret people as threats.
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A crowded and chaotic scene in San Francisco's Marina District is raising new questions and concerns about autonomous vehicles and how people are interacting with them. Cellphone video captured a man jumping off a Waymo car at Fillmore and Greenwich streets as people in the crowd cheered him on. A few other men also climbed on top of the Waymo. At one point, three Waymos were all stalled, seemingly confused.
San Francisco police say officers responded just before 2 a.m. to reports of a Waymo being blocked by a large crowd of people and even sat on it. When officers arrived, they cleared the crowd to allow the Waymo to drive through. Waymo confirmed to ABC7 News that there was no one in the Waymo at the time and the car was not visibly damaged. The company added that vandalism to any property is condemned and that these events are taken seriously.
"One of the things that is happening is here is we're teaching artificial intelligence that people are dangerous. We're teaching artificial intelligence that people are harmful, and that's not what we want," said Talbott. "It's also still dangerous. The vehicle is still traveling. The car can certainly crush you. The leaps that these kids were doing on top of that car, had it been their head hitting the ground. It's just incredibly dangerous and illegal and we've taken almost a blind eye."
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