Posted on 03/18/2026 8:35:56 AM PDT by algore
In January, Doug Fulop was riding home from a night out in San Francisco when a man crossed the street in front of his car, doubled back and began screaming at him. The man punched the car’s windows and tried lifting up the vehicle. He then yelled that he wanted to kill Mr. Fulop and the other two passengers for giving money to a robot.
A taxi driver would have simply driven away. But Mr. Fulop’s vehicle had no driver — it was a self-driving Waymo.
“We felt helpless,” said Mr. Fulop, 37, who works in the tech industry.
Self-driving cars are designed to stop moving if a person is nearby. People can take advantage of that function to harass and threaten their passengers.
In 2024, a San Francisco man tried covering the sensors of a self-driving car that had stopped, effectively disabling it, while passengers were inside. Another video from that year showed three women screaming as a group of vandals tagged their autonomous taxi with spray paint.
It was unsettling to be trapped inside a Waymo during an attack, Mr. Fulop said. “If he had kept hammering on one window instead of alternating, I’m sure he would have eventually broken through,” he said.
The attacker did not appear to be on drugs or otherwise impaired, but seemed to be overtaken by extreme anger at the self-driving car, Mr. Fulop said. It did not seem safe to get out and run, he added, since the man was trying to open the locked doors and said he wanted to kill the passengers.
The attack lasted around six minutes. By then, bystanders had begun cheering on the man, Mr. Fulop said. That distracted the man, who moved far enough away from the car that it could finally drive away.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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Re “… It did not seem safe to get out and run…”
Mr. Fulop, 37, should be ashamed to call himself a man.
Carry a damn firearm and you won’t have to be afraid.
What the hell have we become?
Another thing ruined by lack of a high trust society. In a sane society this would not be tolerated, and civilization should not be built around people who do crazy crap.
San Francisco. Say no more!
Trapped like Rats!
A huge negative for this type of transportation. You as a passenger lose your freedom to react. What if the car is on fire etc.
Yeah I know you can contact the special people by your phone well…
“Carry a damn firearm and you won’t have to be afraid.”
Right, then you can go to prison. The perp didn’t touch anyone.
I read that Waymos have a person designated to monitor them remotely in case of trouble. Couldn't that person have assessed the situation and caused the vehicle to drive away?
In my opinion, if you threaten me, I have a right to shoot you. I understand the courts feel somewhat differently than I do.
“In my opinion, if you threaten me, I have a right to shoot you. I understand the courts feel somewhat differently than I do.”
They may feel somewhat differently unless maybe you are an LEO.
That's a sad commentary on the decline of civilization.
In most cases, especially when some lunatic is pounding on your car windows, letting the perp know that you are armed is enough to deter him her or it.
Who’s “we”, Kemosabe?
Mr. Fulop, 37, lives in San Francisco. His government, for which he voted, forbids him taking responsibility for his own safety. He voluntarily rode in a robot-car, relinquishing his own responsibility for his transportation.
The underlying problem, here, is a significant minority of people who refuse to take responsibility for their own lives. The WANT to “own nothing”, they WANT to be responsible for nothing, and delude themselves into thinking that it will make them happy. They’re basically children. Very little, very immature children.
Re “… is a significant minority of people who refuse to take responsibility for their own lives…”
THOSE “we”.
By congressional testimony that “observer” is halfway around the world in the Philippines.
But the story underscores a thing I had thought about
Namely, all someone has to do is disable the waymo with stuff that disables its sensors...silly string, hammers, etc.break into the car, assault, rob, rape, kill, the passengers....done. Or disassemble the vehicle and take away the parts.
The novelty will go away of a “technogizmo” ..and the humans will use their wiles to defeat it and make money doing it
I see the many photos of our Urban Citizens raiding and looting UPS / FEDEX trucks and trains, and realize that self-driving trucks and delivery vehicles would be subject to high levels of theft and vandalism, and simply be unprofitable in large parts of urban America.
Re “… They’re basically children. Very little, very immature children.”
And you are definitely not wrong.
It’s disgusting.
Those are “them”. I’m not one of “them”. I bet you aren’t, either.
“We” tolerate “them”. “We” should not. At the very least, “we” should mercilessly ridicule “them”. “They” absolutely deserve it.
"Tech" is imagined and created by sheltered, high IQ whites and asians, who come from high-trust environments. They imagine themselves using it, so it makes sense - they don't consider real society.
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