Driverless robotaxis are appearing in a growing number of cities across the US, but not everyone is thrilled by the new technology. San Francisco has been leading the charge to put human taxicab, Uber, and Lyft drivers out of work with the help of a company called Waymo. Not surprisingly, some humans are taking exception to being replaced by robots.
Like this guy:
Californian vs Waymo…
Another Day, Another Crimepic.twitter.com/jnNgxKswfs
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) April 22, 2024
We’re not sure what his motivation was for caving in the windshield on the driverless robotaxi, but we’re also not going to judge. Maybe he’s a former cab driver who is now out of work.
Companies continue to push these new technologies that are putting people out of work without even having a public conversation about it. Shouldn’t policymakers and legislators be talking about whether we want to create things like AI that have the potential to cause millions of people to lose their jobs?
The trend of driverless robotaxis kicked off in San Francisco and Phoenix, but now it’s rapidly spreading. Cruise, a company owned by GM, is doing driverless robotaxi testing in 14 cities across the US right now. Cruise expects to generate more than $1 billion in revenue for GM starting in 2025. Every dollar of that translates into more human drivers losing their jobs to machines.
Protests against these cars are more extensive than just the guy in the video above. There’s an organized San Francisco group called Safe Street Rebels that has been targeting the cars with money-losing pranks. For example, last year, they ran a campaign in which they would run out in the street and place an orange cone on the hood of a robotaxi when it was stopped in traffic. That spoofs the AI, and the car just gets frozen in place in the street.
The question now is how much protests against these driverless taxis are going to intensify as more and more humans are unable to make a living because of them.
