When the city of San Francisco held a hearing last week on an incident that caused hundreds of Waymo robotaxis to stop dead in their tracks, it became a rallying point for labor activists, rideshare drivers, and concerned citizens to vent their grief with autonomous vehicles.
According to one new study, that’s no coincidence — but instead an early sign of explosive backlash as self-driving taxis rapidly expand throughout the United States.
The study, a survey of more than 4,600 responses to questions on self-driving cars collected by the Pew Research Center, found widespread distrust with the vehicles. According to reporting by the San Diego Union-Tribune, about 85 percent of those surveyed believe the rollout of driverless cars will lead to job losses. A further 70 percent said self-driving cars are a “bad idea for society,” or that they were unsure about how to regard the technology — meaning there’s only a pitiful slice of the population who outright supports the vehicles.
“If we don’t address these fears in a forward-looking manner, we may end up in a situation where we see a public backlash against this technology,” Behram Wali, assistant professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at UC San Diego, and the lead author of the study told the Tribune. “I was not expecting the fears we ended up seeing.”
While the study points to future unrest, there are plenty of signs that the public is already sick of the disruptive potential of self-driving vehicles.
Earlier in January, drivers for Lyft and Uber came together to protest the proliferation of Waymo vehicles in San Francisco, urging state regulators to expand regulations on self-driving taxis. Similar rallies have been held in Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York City, largely organized by labor unions or rideshare workers themselves.
In Boston last October, a group made up of Teamsters and grassroots organizers announced the formation of a new coalition in opposition of robotaxis.
“Driverless cars and trucks pose a serious threat to public safety, our communities, and the livelihoods of the countless dedicated men and women across the Commonwealth who work as professional drivers,” Tom Mari, president of Teamsters Local 25 said in a statement. “These machines don’t benefit working people — they only serve the interests of out-of-state big tech billionaires, and their opinions shouldn’t outweigh the needs of Massachusetts residents.”
Other responses have been less civil. In numerous incidents, crowds have become so furious that they’ve lit Waymo’s vehicles on fire, leaving torched wrecks behind.
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