Woman in San Francisco self-driving taxis harassed by men chasing and intercepting vehicles
Women have reportedly been harassed by men chasing or intercepting their cars in self-driving taxis in San Francisco.
Waymo, a robo-taxi service that first began offering taxis in California cities two years ago, was initially popular with residents worried about riding in cars with unknown drivers.
But some have become more skeptical after a series of incidents involving men using driverless technology to track passengers home or try to break into their vehicles.
Stephanie, who works in technology, told The Washington Post that she and her sister were walking home late at night when a group of men in another car started chasing them.
They drove up to the taxi, honked their horns and shouted: “Hey ladies – you’re hot,” she told the newspaper.
She said if someone was driving she would change her itinerary to avoid bringing these people to her home, but she didn’t know how to do that in a driverless car and called emergency services.
She was told police could not be dispatched to moving vehicles.
Later, she said she asked Waymo to provide her with video footage of the car so she could send the license plate to police, but claimed Waymo refused to do so.
‘I love Waymo, but this is terrible’
A video posted on social media in September by Amina, a growth engineer from San Francisco, showed two men stopping her taxi and asking for her phone number.
The car made no attempt to go around them, but remained stationary, waiting for the pair to move.
“I have to go – please stop, you take it [up] “Traffic jam!” she shouted to them, and one of the men made a phone signal with his hand and raised it to his head.
Judging from the video, the incident lasted at least a minute.
“I love Waymo, but this is horrible,” she wrote in the video description.
“Two men stopped in front of my car and asked for my phone number. I was stranded as the car parked on the street.
Another social media video showed a Waymo taxi being vandalized by men wearing hoodies, who used permanent markers to scribble on the hood and windows. A man sitting in the front seat hugged holding a puppy.
In February, a mob set fire to a taxi in the city’s Chinatown.
There were no passengers in the vehicle at the time and no injuries were reported.
Elliot, a tech worker in San Francisco, said a man tried to break into his cab late one night in October with what appeared to be a knife.
He told The Washington Post that he hoped someone would “step on the gas and get away from this guy.”
“We take these incidents very seriously and understand how disturbing they can be,” a Waymo spokesperson told the newspaper.
He said incidents of harassment or attempts to gain access to one of the vehicles during the trip were “extremely rare” and support staff were available to talk to passengers and cooperate with law enforcement.
Passengers can use the Waymo app to pull over or change destinations, or ask a support staff to do so on their behalf, the spokesperson added.
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