Waymo Is Suing People Who Allegedly Smashed and Slashed Its Robotaxis (wired.com) 53
Waymo, a subsidiary of Google's parent Alphabet, has taken legal action against alleged vandals targeting its self-driving taxi fleet in San Francisco, according to court documents. The company, which operates ride-hailing services in several U.S. cities, has filed two lawsuits seeking substantial damages for incidents that reportedly resulted in extensive damage to vehicle tires and bodywork, Wired reported Monday.
Sabot-age! (Score:1)
But Waymo tech-bro C-suite'rs wouldn't have gotten the joke.
Re:Vandalism is a crime (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
How much money do you think the average Waymo vandal has?
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Exactly why we need to bring back work houses and debtors prisons; some of these people have no skin in the game, so their needs to be a way to take it out of their own hide.
Re: (Score:3)
How much money do you think the average Waymo vandal has?
I'm speculating, but I imagine that the lawsuit itself is the point. "Vandalize our cars, expect to get sued." Might make people think twice when they believe no one is looking.
Re:Vandalism is a crime (Score:4, Interesting)
Given the age and race, probalby quite a bit. They are generally teenagers to mid 20's, typically white, and thus probably have access to a fair bit of money. Likely have parents that own a house.
And generally speaking, debts incurred by civil liability is not dischargeable through bankruptcy.
If they're youth, Google will probably go after the parents. If they're adults, well, now they've got a debt they need to pay off on top of their student debts.
Re: (Score:3)
How much money do you think the average Waymo vandal has?
Not much, which is the point. It sends a nice message when you can point to evidence that if you slash this tire we will fuck you up financially.
Re: Vandalism is a crime (Score:1)
Re: Vandalism is a crime (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Google wants to get their money back and discourage others from engaging in this type of vandalism. Having to pay for the damages would *hopefully* be enough to act as a deterrent.
LOL, you can't squeeze blood from a stone. Our masters are about to find out exactly what 100 million people who have nothing left to lose will do. But, alas, the beatings will continue until morale improves or society collapses entirely. Take your pick on the outcome.
Re: (Score:3)
So don't read the article then. I think much of/possibly most of Slashdot finds this subject interesting. The social impacts and reactions to automation technology seems be a gripping subject for a lot of nerds.
Re: (Score:1)
$GENERIC_BUSINESS Is Suing People Who Smashed Its Storefront.
Except that this isn't a storefront, it's an in-your-face realization that a you'll own nothing and be happy future is fast approaching. It's a robotic middle finger to anyone who isn't wealthy enough to buy their own car.
I think the ultimate irony would be blocking these robo taxis in place by barricading them in with those rental scooters that seem to be littering every downtown, then let the rent-seekers battle it out with each other over who needs to move their shit.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm having trouble assembling all of these derailed cars into a coherent train... How'd you get from physical attacks on taxis all the way to... well... wherever you got to?
I guess more explicitly how does this connect to being able to - or unable to - buy a car?
Re: (Score:2)
My point was that they're getting vandalized because of what they represent (which is again, a you'll own nothing and be happy future). You think Google is backing a robotaxi scheme for altruistic reasons? They know damn well that the price of owning a car keeps going up and that they'll be a market for "cars as a service" to people who have tight budgets. It's one step down on the scale of predatory business models from things like payday loans.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The people who are vandalizing them are likely homeless and are just doing it for the lols.
Could also be that they see the sad irony of living in a society that has enough wealth to have cars driving around with nobody in them, but simultaneously can't provide shelter for those who have fallen upon hard times.
Re: (Score:2)
Okay... but how is this different than taxis which have been around for decades? Are you also against cabs?
Re: (Score:2)
Okay... but how is this different than taxis which have been around for decades? Are you also against cabs?
The difference is we can be empathetic to the human behind the wheel of a regular taxi, who is just trying to earn a living. It's not the same thing as a giant corporation filling the streets with autonomous vehicles because they hope it will eventually lead to a higher stock value.
Re: (Score:2)
So for the consumer it's not different. Cabbies are mad at Uber drivers, both are mad at driverless vehicles. If I understand your point, "you will own nothing" is about the loss of human jobs to the faceless org.
Seems a bit tenuously linked... but thank you for clarifying.
Re: (Score:3)
How do you know that is the reason? I am asking seriously, since I tried to search for their motive and found only things like this:
- Man yelled at a car, t hen attacked a bystander:
https://www.latimes.com/califo... [latimes.com]
- Tire slasher: "Ms. Burton is someone in need of help and not jail, which is why our social workers are actively working to identify and secure appropriate services"
https://www.kqed.org/news/1199... [kqed.org]
- "Safe street rebels" question the safety of the vehicles
https://www.theguardian.com/us... [theguardian.com]
And con
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
This is for everyone who rode the short bus and says HUR DUR THEFT IS LEGAL THERE. https://www.usatoday.com/story... [usatoday.com]
Re: (Score:1)
Posting again to unhide truth about how fucked up California is.
Retard monkey keeps trying to hide the facts for his political agenda by modding down instead of replying. Because he is uninformed retarded monkey.
Re: (Score:2)
When you find out how much it costs to prosecute a criminal case you'll harping about how much money is being wasted. ;-)
We can do the same? (Score:3)
Waymo Is Suing People Who Allegedly Smashed and Slashed Its Robotaxis
Can we do the same to Google for "smashing and slashing" our privacy?
Re: (Score:3)
You could try. But I have a feeling somewhere deep in the EULA you agreed to before using the services of google there was a clause stating you agree to binding arbitration instead. Guess who almost always wins in binding arbitration.
Re: (Score:2)
Make it fair (Score:2)
How to ID the people? (Score:3)
'Couldn't read the article because it's paywalled. How would you identify the persons messing with their cars?
Re: (Score:3)
https://support.google.com/way... [google.com]
Cameras inside the car
Cameras are a way for us to make sure your ride goes smoothly. Among other things, we may use cameras to:
I would assume the in-car rules preclude vandalism. I don't know how stupid somebody would have to be to think they can destroy things and nobody will
Re: (Score:2)
Did you just ask if a car with 360degree imaging and LIDAR technology has cameras on it? Vandalism is a criminal offence. Police are often pretty good at identifying suspects when you have good quality camera footage, when the suspects are serial vandals, and have the motivation to get off their arses when a court case is actually in progress by a major company in the city.
Hey there's a car with dozens of cameras (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
Re: (Score:2)
You speak the truth.
(California resident here)
Detroit (Score:3)
Fun story about Detroit.
During the pandemic the police were understandably very slow in executing arrest warrants. Usually they would simply not execute them at all.
After things started reopening, the homicide rates started increasing, by a lot. Above pre-pandemic levels. Quickly.
Eventually the chief of police made a concerted effort to run through the backlog of arrest warrants, starting with homicide suspects. Thousands of warrants were carried out within a month or two.
Six months later, the homicide rate
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Hey there's a car with dozens of cameras (Score:4, Insightful)
Nah. San Francisco shitcanned it's old do-nothing DA about a year and a half ago. The problem now is with the police, who steadfastly refuse* to do their jobs... unless they think their job is to beat up kids for skateboarding anyway. And no one's hit on the idea yet of firing the police chief too, and then the DA again, and the the police chief, DA, PC, until they can get a pair who are willing to pull their thumbs out of their asses, work together, and do their damned jobs. Or they could (probably should) start going down the ranks and firing deputies and assistants until the message gets through and both organizations get their shit together.
*Like... seriously... a couple of months back, the local trash went out and had themselves a sideshow on the Golden Gate Bridge, and then got away from the incompetents that are the SFPD. The GGB doesn't even have an upper and lower deck. It's just the one span and deck with only two possible ways (Well, technically three. But that z-axis exit is pretty dicey.) on or off the bridge. And the lacksadisical losers of the SFPD still didn't stop or catch them!
Re: (Score:2)
You have the police force you voted for. Imagine being so irrational as to imagine that treating your police force like a criminal gang for years on end is all going to suddenly fix itself because your new DA is 0.35 cunt hairs less bat shit crazy than the last DA.
Enjoy, dumbass.
Re: (Score:2)
It's just the one span and deck with only two possible ways (Well, technically three. But that z-axis exit is pretty dicey.) on or off the bridge. And the lacksadisical losers of the SFPD still didn't stop or catch them!
I'm not in SF, CA or the USA, but thought I'd share.
Do you know that scene in the Simpsons where Homer is chained to a tree and the police try to arrest him, so they chase him round the tree and others join chasing all in the same direction and then they cal for backup?
I watched that play o
Re: (Score:3)
The San Francisco police don't care. Even if they did the DA wouldn't prosecute.
You're confusing your own lower-class citizen self with a mega corporation. The police don't care *about you*. We're talking about a company with money here. You're not on the same playing field.
The Deadly Driverless Experiments Must Continue! (Score:2)