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The fedora tipping is too funny, seeing it from outside the situation, but she certainly was very scared because it’s such a bizarre event.
Some guys were annoying/sexist to her while she participated in a public menace and I guess this is supposed to mean something to me beyond “stay away from California”
California is awesome.
I can see criminals easily exploiting this default behavior to stop the car and steal from those inside.
Where’s a Johnny cab when you need it, it knows how to deal with criminals.
I doubt choosing to stick up a vehicle covered in cameras with someone who likely isn’t even carrying cash is anyone’s idea of a good payoff.
Did the lady have 5 kids to feed?
Pretty simple problem to solve, get a conceal carry permit.
When the solution is “Vigilantism” you know the situation is fucked.
No, its self defense.
In civilized countries “self defense” means you might have to punch someone. “You should have an easy way to kill someone on you at all times, and keep it hidden so they don’t know” is not self defense, but clear signs of a dystopia.
That was in response to being robbed.
I think the phrase you’re looking for is “defending yourself”.
I don’t live in a 3rd world country, so I guess I just don’t understand the concept of needing to arm myself before leaving my house because I’m likely to need a deadly weapon while I go about my business.
What country do you live in? I’m curious which one has no theft or violent crime.
ah, the American solution
lemmy is full of sissy pacifists but i upvoted you.
I once had someone get in my face and say, “Are you man enough to fight me?” I responded with “I’m man enough to find non-violent solutions to my problems.” Why should someone be proud of the problem-resolution method of choice for 3-year-olds?
there aren’t always non-violent solutions. i accept that reality. it’s nothing to be proud of, but i would be ashamed if i couldn’t deal with that truth.
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How many people have you shot?
I prefer to reduce demand, instead. Everyday people who feel happy and safe don’t feel the need to be violent.
we need more men willing to stand up for women.
Okay, this really seems more like a case of sexual harassment, rather than harassment of Waymo customers, which was my first suspicion. Had it been the latter as part of a politically motivated action against the company I might have had a lot more sympathy, but this is disgusting…
You saw the fedora and thought it was anything but sexual harassment? LMAO
I saw “driverless waymo” in the title.
Also: Prejudice against people wearing fedoras is still prejudice and thus not really a great thing to have. One of my best friends also likes to wear a hat at times (not sure if it counts as a fedora, I know very little about heads) and is one of the sweetest people I know.
The victim’s statement here ends with an oddly volunteered tangent and specific praise of driverless vehicles, before it finally takes an eerie turn in the last sentence…
"…With that said, I think the Human Factor in this issue is going to be a lot harder to solve than anything else.” …FREEZE CITIZEN!
I do hope she’s okay, and those two folks seem to be clowns, but this thing also all reads as likely guerilla marketing for Waymo - who the article informs me, in a very capitalism-friendly turn of events, that they now have their service open to the public in 3 cities, cars have a safety feature that checked in with her multiple times and they “rewarded” her with an extra ride. It’s a light enough “crime”, with a very engineered feeling and enough to feel “real” while providing ready fodder for morning radio talk shows, Jimmy Fallon and good morning America talking heads to drone on about this morning across America as time filler that quietly advertises waymo “saving” a person from the scary outside world.
Note: Also, was very funny that throughout drafting my comment here “waymo” was constantly being autocorrected to “say no” :)
Just last week I had to run over some mother fuckers
It do be like that sometimes
In the past, autonomous vehicle development dwelled on the ethical hypothetical situations like “do you hit an old lady crossing the road in order to avoid crashing into a schoolbus full of children?”, but what about safety hypotheticals? Like, if you were actually driving your vehicle, there are moments when it’s in your best interest to not be at a stop, such as when people are physically surrounding your car and potentially mean to cause you harm, which is extremely common in America. When does the driverless car get you out of a tight spot and run over some carjackers if need be?
Edit: To respond to everyone saying I’m full of shit, and that carjackings aren’t common, there were more than 500 carjackings in NYC alone in 2021. New Orleans had 281 in 2021. 800 carjackings in Philly in 2021. 1800 carjackings in Chicago in 2021. Tell me, is that not enough carjackings to warrant asking my question?
How the fuck do you figure that’s “extremely common”? You need to spend less time on the Internet my dude …
I’ve provided data for you in my original comment.
Extremely common? Really?
Yes. I’ve provided data for you in my original comment.
The only thing I’d be curious about with these numbers is car jackings vs the amount of cars/drivers on the road. That would give a percentage and let us know how common it is.
And how many of the carjackings were high-value targets like delivery vans, or in sketchy high-crime parts of the city.
It’s definitely not extremely common.
You guys are talking past one another. It’s extremely common at a population level insofar as its happening literally many times per day at the population level. It is not extremely likely at the individual level because the vehicle miles driven per carjacking is massive with most people never getting car jacked.
I’ve provided data for you in my original comment.
Surely you can just take over? You can’t expect the car to run people over for you lol
The Waymo car wouldn’t let the woman take over.
Yeah I misread before I commented, I didn’t know robot taxis were a thing, Jesus…
This made me wonder though…the car obviously has cameras on the outside, and there’s also a way to communicate with the support team from inside…so is it a stretch to think that these cars could be auto-recording everything that’s happening inside the car?
Should we - as riders - have any expectation of privacy in a car with no driver?
You should never expect privacy in someone else’s car.
No, but then the same is true of taxis and Ubers. They all have some kind of recording equipment in them for ensuring safety and cover in case someone claims something.
That’s gotta be the cyberpunkiest thing I’ve read in a while.
In an instance like this, our riders have 24/7 access to Rider Support agents who will help them navigate the situation in real time
Clearly that’s what a human driver would do, but I guess those Rider Support Agents work for free, so why not fire the driver? /s
And then when you have an emergency the response is along the lines of:
“Thank you for requesting to speak with a rider support agent. All agents are currently busy assisting other Waymo customers, but the next available agent will assist you as soon as possible. There are currently 32 other customers in front of you. Thank you for your patience.”
True. The instant response that exists now is only because this is a pilot program and they want to prove that it works. Once it’s normalized they will lay off most of the rider support and fuck you if you have to wait on the line.
Waymo should provide a loaded shotgun in every car. It’s America, after all.
/s
They should have little nozzles to disperse a cloud of pepper spray around the vehicle in emergencies.
SAAB tried to corner the US market in the '80s and '90s by giving away a shoulder mounted anti tank rocket with each purchase of a car, but their legal team said “that’s not an appropriate way to deal with road rage.”
Make it AI controlled for good measure
Russian roulette cab ride
Maybe that could spark a nice tradition of the one sitting besides the drivers seat calling ‘shotgun’.
… O wait
See now if she had a HUMAN driver, this would have turned out alot differently. But no, we gotta remove another career so Corporations can make more money…
Human drivers are well known for never ever harassing women.
Pshh, you need a good driver with a gun, then I’m sure everything will be resolved peacefully
I have to admit, I expected a lot worse from the style of writing. This was written like some true crime stuff lol
404 don’t miss. Best tech journoing in the biz imho
