The battle between humanity and artificial intelligence (AI) is intensifying after a group of people in San Francisco’s Chinatown deliberately set ablaze a self-driving car made by Waymo the other day in protest of the vehicle’s foreboding and dangerous presence on the streets of California.
Part of a phenomenon that one person described late last year as “the AI crusades,” the incident involved between 10 and 15 individuals who reportedly encountered the self-driving Jaguar electric vehicle (EV) from Waymo traveling down Jackson Street, between Stockton and Grant. Upon spotting the electric vehicle (EV), the individuals decided to attack and vandalize it – watch below:
In a statement provided to The San Francisco Standard, Waymo said it is working with local safety officials to investigate and address the matter, noting that none of the passengers inside the vehicle were harmed during the incident.
(Related: Whenever an EV is involved in an accident, no matter how minor, insurance companies always total the entire car because the expensive battery always has to be tossed and replaced for safety reasons, polluting landfills with all sorts of deadly chemicals.)
It turns out that the incident is not isolated, but is rather part of a growing public trend that despises self-driving cars and wants to see them removed from roadways permanently.
According to an activist group called Safe Street Rebels, self-driving cars are “polluting, dangerous & murderous,” so they must be stopped from zipping around cities like San Francisco.
Another concern with so-called autonomous vehicles is the fact that they are increasingly being powered by AI, which we now know threatens the jobs and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people across the United States and Europe.
“Expect to see Waymo of this in the future,” one commenter joked about the situation, employing a play on words with the Waymo company name.
“The act of destruction has become an artistic expression,” expressed another, “While a Waymo, set ablaze driving itself through the streets, might not yet be the pinnacle of performance art, it is entertaining.”
Those with the most to lose from the spread of self-driving AI cars are citizens, suggested another, “because self-driving cars dictate what you can bring into them and where you can go.”
Another asked who would be culpable in a case involving a self-driving car whose passenger(s) commit a crime.
“Would the car company, the engineers, or the programmers be charged as accessory to the crime?” this person asked.
“I mean, if the legal process in some states allows the gun manufacturer to be sued based on criminal behavior, and tobacco companies were sued because their cigarettes were “addictive,” and pharmaceutical companies are sued when their vaccines cause harm … oh wait, never mind.”
Still another said he is more concerned about human drivers these days, whom he described as “alcohol-impaired cell phone addicts.”
“Who has time to actually drive a vehicle these days?” this jaded person continued. “Driverless cars do not suffer from road rage. They might create some, however.”
The world is growing weary of the AI-driven tech revolution and what it is doing to humanity and society at large. Find out more at Transhumanism.news.
