SF Chronicle – S.F. woman’s viral video shows her trapped in a Waymo by men asking for her number
Editors note: bruh, that’s harassment. Yes, it points out how vulnerable passengers are in a driverless robotaxi that cannot get out of unusual situations. Yes, Waymos are the scourge of the city. But next time make sure it is not several guys intimidating women.
See original article by Annie Vainshtein at SF Chronicle
A widely circulated video of a San Francisco woman’s harrowing experience in a Waymo vehicle over the weekend — in which two men stopped the vehicle in the middle of the street in an effort to get her phone number — has raised fresh concerns about passenger safety in autonomous vehicles.
The 28-year-old, who asked to be identified as Amina V., said the Waymo was stopped at a red light last Saturday morning when a man stood in front of the car and refused to leave, forcing the car to stop. The Chronicle withheld her last name in accordance with its policies around anonymous sources. Another man joined him and the two continued to harass her, said Amina V., who captured part of the exchange on a video she posted to X.
The video subsequently ricocheted around social media Tuesday and highlighted a new potential danger of traveling in autonomous vehicles: the inability to maneuver around threatening situations, or people.
Waymo spokespersons have advised riders to remain inside their vehicles when someone comes up to it, “unless there’s an urgent need to exit,” KGO-TV reported in a story earlier this year about a San Francisco couple who felt trapped after a person tried to cover the sensors of their Waymo vehicle on a dark, rainy night.
In Amina V.’s video, the men continued blocking the car in the middle of a busy South of Market intersection at Mission and Ninth streets, and though she persistently shouted at them to leave her alone, the men wouldn’t go.
With the men standing in front of the car, the vehicle wouldn’t budge.
Amina V. told the Chronicle once the car stopped, a message flashed on its screen that said “We will help you shortly.” She managed to click the “in car support” button on the screen once the men left, and she was asked by a prompt if she was OK and needed police support. She said she didn’t.
Julia Ilina, spokesperson for Waymo, said the company connected with the rider to “ensure their well-being” and the rider was safe during the entire event.
“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 and coordinate closely with law enforcement officers to provide further assistance as needed,” said Ilina.
Amina V. said she was contacted by Waymo hours after the incident, and was told she would get at least one free ride.
She told the Chronicle she will still take Waymo vehicles even after the frightening instance, but believes the “human factor” will be a lot harder to solve than anything else.
“I was in a pretty severe car accident as a child and have anxieties around driving due to it,” she said. “I’ve been looking forward to this type of technology for a long time.”
She said she would prefer Waymo vehicles to limit driving in the Tenderloin or certain areas of SoMa, and that in the future, she would like to sit in the driver’s seat or in the back seat, where the windows are tinted.
She was seated in the front passenger seat during the altercation with the two men.
Ilina, the spokesperson for Waymo, said incidents like what happened to Amina V. are “exceedingly rare” among the 100,000 trips it serves a week across San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, but that the company “takes them very seriously.”
See original article by Annie Vainshtein at SF Chronicle
