Wielding Rocks and Knives, Arizonans Attack Self-Driving Cars

[Eugene]

Source: New York Times

Wielding Rocks and Knives, Arizonans Attack Self-Driving Cars

By Simon Romero
Dec. 31, 2018

CHANDLER, Ariz. — The assailant slipped out of a park around noon one day in October, zeroing in on his target, which was idling at a nearby intersection — a self-driving van operated by Waymo, the driverless-car company spun out of Google.

He carried out his attack with an unidentified sharp object, swiftly slashing one of the tires. The suspect, identified as a white man in his 20s, then melted into the neighborhood on foot.

The slashing was one of nearly two dozen attacks on driverless vehicles over the past two years in Chandler, a city near Phoenix where Waymo started testing its vans in 2017. In ways large and small, the city has had an early look at public misgivings over the rise of artificial intelligence, with city officials hearing complaints about everything from safety to possible job losses.

Some people have pelted Waymo vans with rocks, according to police reports. Others have repeatedly tried to run the vehicles off the road. One woman screamed at one of the vans, telling it to get out of her suburban neighborhood. A man pulled up alongside a Waymo vehicle and threatened the employee riding inside with a piece of PVC pipe.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/31/us/waymo-self-driving-cars-arizona-attacks.html

[htuttle]

1. That headline sounds absolutely post-apocalyptic

[area51]

5. +1 n/t

[NoMoreRepugs]

2. I read this and am dumbfounded.

Are we ever going to progress to a higher level?

[harumph]

19. I don't think the adoption of self driving cars will take us to a "higher level"

Maybe if we reduce the rate of infant mortality in this country which is higher than Guam,
French Polynesia and Cuba - THAT might help us progress. How about free and fair (auditable) elections.
Rest assured, neither the cars, nor the developing MOBILE AI ability will be used to take us to a higher level.
Borlaug's Green Revolution was supposed to take us to a higher level but instead led to
over stressing and overpopulating the planet. The wealthy are going to need these self driving
vehicles for food delivery to their gated compounds. These self driving vehicles would've come in
handy for Iraq convoys as well. This is not about self driving taxis for our convenience.

[MineralMan]

22. How about we end homelessness,

feed the hungry, and have universal healthcare? That would be a higher level. Self driving vehicles? Not so much...

[Loki Liesmith]

27. Then start a company to do that

Because you’re criticizing a company that makes self-driving cars. Why would an entrepreneur in automobile AI know the first thing about feeding the hungry?

[appal_jack]

37. What gives this company the right to use public roads?

How about we look at the roads, paid for by human members of the public?

How about we NOT automatically assume that a private, for-profit company automatically has the right to unleash its fallible, AI-driven, steel projectiles on said roads?

-app

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

39. Well, we assume that for-profit companies have the right ...

to unleash fallible, teen-driven, steel projectiles on said roads.

The biggest problem I've seen with self-driving cars is that they're too slow and cautious. It seems that every stop sign is an opportunity to shut down and reboot. I think they rarely are the cause of accidents, safer than many human drivers.

I hope to buy one before I'm too old to drive.

[dalton99a]

31. Well, for now the cars still need humans to add gas and clean off the birdshit

[brush]

36. Don't give 'em any ideas. They can design robots to replace humans for that...

and they won't stop at just that.

Enough of that and there will eventually be surplus eaters.

And you just know a guaranteed income for displaced workers is never gonna happen.

[RKP5637]

3. I can imagine the first major pileup when one of the cars loses its bits over something!

[MyOwnPeace]

4. Not everybody accepts progress............

[KayF]

6. some are concerned about safety

https://www.newsweek.com/self-driving-cars-arizona-chandler-waymo-driverless-cars-autonomous-vehicles-1260391
Safety fears appear to have motivated some of the incidents. Others reflect a common frustration with Alphabet, Waymo's parent company, The Republic stated.

One "heavily intoxicated" man who stopped a Waymo car from moving forward by standing in front of it was "sick and tired of the Waymo vehicles driving in his neighbourhood,” a police report stated.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. Nothing says "safety" like standing in the road in front of a car. NT

[Codeine]

9. The fact that standing in front of the car

prevented it from moving rather undermines the notion that the vehicles are unsafe.

[Codeine]

7. If DU's most famous self-driving Luddite

suddenly stops posting we’ll know why.

[Mr. Quackers]

10. I was reminded of the opening sequence

in 2001: A Space Odyssey

[Takket]

11. sounds like chandler needs to host some town halls with the community

an informed public doesn't carry out attacks like this........ but people are terrified of things they don't understand. This is not a prelude to Terminator

[ismnotwasm]

12. That's creepy as fuck

[raccoon]

13. Wish they'd program the driverless cars to chase people like him nt

[defacto7]

14. Just goes to show... some people are stupider than cars.

[dalton99a]

15. We followed a Waymo self-driving car for miles, here's what we saw (Arizona Republic):

[underpants]

32. Two things

Arizona has curbside police "sub stations"? --- and I don't mean to imply a donut joke --- interesting idea

The lane change. Yes it is hesitant but that's good. Looks to me that twice the car turned off it's signal as it approached an intersection. Changing lanes in an intersection is illegal in Virgina (I'd assume everywhere) but I see people do it a lot.

[Codeine]

16. Waymo can take a page outta Spielberg

and stop this nonsense post-haste.

[spinbaby]

17. I'm looking forward to self-driving cars

In another 20 years, I’ll probably be too old to drive, and will need technology that gets me places.

[Codeine]

18. Yep. My job involves a lot of windshield time.

Doing something constructive while the car gets to my next account would benefit me and my employer.

[NutmegYankee]

23. And that is why they will never succeed - the technology will need monitoring like planes.

But people will not pay attention.

[Codeine]

24. I believe you underestimate the potential

of the technology. We shall see.

[NutmegYankee]

29. I work with automation technology.

If a system is closed we allow it to operate fully with automation, and any breakdown can be safely contained. But in open systems, where there can be external events and the vehicle can go in any direction, the computer can only respond to what it was told to do. In those cases a human might need to take over. A system failure could be catastrophic if the human isn't ready to take over. It's also why this technology is being tested in desert cities - winter poses a significant challenge to these vehicles.

[Loki Liesmith]

33. I do too

And we already have an automated system at work everywhere that operates with minimal testing and causes constant catastrophic failures. It’s called humanity and eventually AI driven cars will outperform it at this task. Will we raise the testing standards applied to the slow ass computational soup we call brains and our molasses reflexes then?

[Blue_true]

21. How about easy access public transit.

In 20 years most of the population 80-90% will likely live in cities, for a variety of reasons.

[spinbaby]

44. That works, too

I’ve traveled in places with good public transportation and it’s awesome. But I’m not holding my breath on getting it here.

[JI7]

20. I wonder if they are the same type that would oppose govt programs to help people

especially during things like changes in technology and jobs going away as a result.

[Blue_true]

26. More and more prominent people are starting to realize that if we are to exist as societies.

We will need some form of universal basic income. There will be lots of issues to address for smooth UBI, but it is coming and governments that don't start planning for it will be in trouble.

[Iggo]

25. They know there's people in those cars, right?

[underpants]

28. And pickup truck drivers are blocking Tesla charging stations

Coincidence? I don't think so

[Loki Liesmith]

30. Deep stupid

[OncoRN]

34. I live in Chandler

See these vehicles all the time but the most frequent times they are out is late night/early morning. Times when there's less traffic. I've not heard of these attacks and have never heard any complaints from any of my friends or coworkers. There's always a driver and frequently a passenger too. I'm not understanding the loss of jobs point of view.

[LongtimeAZDem]

35. Yeah, it's the first I've heard of it as well. We get them a lot around the MCC area, but

they're not a problem.

[dmkinsey]

40. Driverless vehicles will include interstate trucks and local delivery

Truck drivers and delivery drivers will be the ones to lose jobs. A high percentage of these workers are not prepared for rapid career change.

[akraven]

38. We don't worry about them up here.

The tests we've seen have all ended up in snow-filled ditches...… There's a LOT of companies that do test drives here. We mostly find it amoosing!

[WeekiWater]

41. The anger out there is so over the top.

It’s frightening.

[LongtimeAZDem]

42. I don't agree with it, but I understand it. A person was killed by one here, many have been injured,

and, when perfected, they will put a lot of people out of work.

[WeekiWater]

43. I don't understand it. It's uncontrolled anger.

We are also talking about an invention that could save countless lives, be an enormous plus for the environment, increase freedom for millions of Americans, and generate serious job growth.

I have very little appreciation for luddites. I have less appreciation for violence without any logical reason.

[ck4829]

45. But yet, regular cars driven by people cause fatalities and injuries too

And I don't see people attacking parking lots and garages.

[LongtimeAZDem]

48. Yeah; like I said, I don't agree with it. /nt

[Tommy_Carcetti]

46. There is a DUer who warned us this would happen, but did we listen? No!

IMHO that was a major mistake.

[ansible]

47. Technology advances, but human nature remains the same