• ArtieShaw@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      This happened during street festivities for lunar new year, so a lot of people are connecting the dots. They don’t mention that the car was aggressively trying to drive through a crowd, but it seems like it was trying to make its way through a crowd.

      https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/why-did-a-san-francisco-crowd-light-waymos-driverless-vehicle-on-fire/

      Multiple witnesses said Waymo’s navigation technology became confused by festivities and fireworks that were lit to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Witness Anirudh Koul said the driverless car “got stuck immediately in front.”

      Another witness said the car’s presence in the middle of Chinatown’s celebrations triggered frustrations in the crowd. “You could feel the frustration when people were just trying to celebrate,” she told KRON4.

      • FaceDeer@kbin.social
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        9 months ago

        So the car’s presence was annoying them. That’s not exactly a great justification for torching it.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          The car shouldn’t have been present in the first place. It wasn’t a place for cars to be at that moment.

          • FaceDeer@kbin.social
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            9 months ago

            If you were to turn down the wrong street, maybe park in the wrong spot, you’d consider it reasonable if a mob torched it?

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              I’m pretty sure I’m not a self-driving car. I’m also pretty sure if I saw a big crowd of people, I wouldn’t keep driving forward.

              • FaceDeer@kbin.social
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                9 months ago

                I didn’t say they’d torch you. The scenario can include them graciously allowing you to depart your car before they burn it to the ground.

                Seriously, you think it’s reasonable for a mob to destroy a car because its presence “triggered frustrations in the crowd”? Bear in mind this isn’t France we’re talking about, where torching cars to express frustration is part of the common culture. This is San Francisco.

                • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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                  9 months ago

                  I think it’s reasonable for a mob to destroy one of the many self-driving cars that have been pissing off San Francisco residents for a very long time now when it tries to drive into them during a big celebration where cars weren’t even supposed to be.

                  Who got hurt here? Waymo? Fuck Waymo.

                  • FaceDeer@kbin.social
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                    9 months ago

                    Alright, so you’re fine with mobs destroying the property of anyone that “pisses them off.” I’d say that’s a slippery slope, but you’re already basically at the bottom.

    • quirzle@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      Seems like the witnesses saw it differently.

      https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/02/12/waymo-set-on-fire-sf/72567647007/

      “They were putting out some rage for really no reason at all. They just wanted to vandalize something, and they did,” witness Edwin Carungay told KGO-TV.

      The witness told the outlet the Waymo was vandalized and set on fire by a big group of people.

      “One young man jumped on the hood, and on the windshield.,” Carungay told KGO. “That kind of started the whole melee.”

    • Kbin_space_program@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      From the original social media video.

      Ask yourself, this is a Chinese new year celebration, a street party. Why is there a driverless car in the middle of a street party?

      All the media reports start with a driverless car in the middle of a street party, surrounded by really angry people. Why was the car there? Why are they angry at it?