San Franciscans fed up with self-driving taxis taking over their city have found a cunning way to stop the vehicles in their tracks.
Activist group Safe Street Rebel is campaigning against the expansion of autonomous taxi services from two companies, Waymo and Cruise, and discovered a simple way to stump the cars.
In a video posted to TikTok last week, the group demonstrated how the cars can be disabled by placing traffic cones on their hoods, and explained why it was moving to disrupt Waymo and Cruise’s operations.
Welcome to Week of Cone
— ConeSF – Week of Cone (@SafeStreetRebel) July 5, 2023
On Thurs 7/13, the CPUC will vote to expand AVs in SF. Cruise & Waymo promise they’ll reduce traffic & collisions, but we know that’s not true. They block busses & emergency vehicles, create more traffic, and are a surveillance nightmare.
But there’s hope pic.twitter.com/K7e0C2nhuq
Waymo is a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet, while Cruise, a spin-off of autos giant GM, is backed by a slew of big-name corporations, including Honda, Microsoft, and Walmart.
Why are residents angry with self-driving taxis?
Although the companies have the backing of the corporate world, they’re facing backlash from some of the people living alongside their futuristic projects.
“Cruise and Waymo promise they’ll reduce traffic and collisions, but we know that’s not true,” Safe Street Rebel argued in the clip. “But instead, they block buses, emergency vehicles, and everyday traffic.
"We can do something about it.
“First, find a cone—they’re everywhere. Then gently place it on the car’s hood. Make sure the car is empty. It’s really fun and anyone can do it.”
Safe Street Rebel’s video is no longer available on TikTok, but is still being shared on other platforms.
A spokesperson for TikTok did not respond to Fortune’s questions about the removal of the video.
The viral prank, which has been dubbed the “Week of Cone,” comes as the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is considering an expansion of Waymo and Cruise’s robotaxi operations.
Current state restrictions limit the vehicles’ areas and hours of operation—but a hearing on July 13 is expected to see the firms given permission to operate their driverless cabs 24/7 in San Francisco.
Activists have urged people living in San Francisco to participate in the upcoming meeting and pile pressure on officials.
“Hell no, we do not consent to this,” Safe Street Rebel said in a video.
The CPUC’s representatives were not immediately available for comment.
Cone at night, cone at day, cone when you want, without delay! pic.twitter.com/GVN2lk03dd
— ConeSF – Week of Cone (@SafeStreetRebel) July 10, 2023
A spokesperson for Cruise told Fortune the traffic cone pranksters had little impact on its robotaxi fleet.
“Cruise’s fleet provides free rides to late-night service workers without more reliable transportation options, has delivered over two million meals to food insecure San Franciscans, and recovers food waste from local businesses,” they said. “Intentionally obstructing vehicles gets in the way of those efforts and risks creating traffic congestion for local residents.”
Waymo representatives were not immediately available for comment when contacted by Fortune.
Emergency services aren't happy either
Safe Street Rebel activists aren’t alone, however, in wanting to see the back of Cruise and Waymo’s autonomous vehicles, which have been taking paying customers since 2022.
Jeanine Nicholson, chief of San Francisco’s Fire Department, told the Washington Post earlier this month that her team had logged 66 incidents involving the vehicles since May last year, and that the regularity of problems was increasing.
“We’ve had them run over our fire hoses. We’ve had our hoses get caught in their axles. We’ve had them block fire engines, and we’ve had them come into live active fire scenes,” she said. “We need something to change.”
The taxis have also reportedly wreaked havoc on transportation infrastructure in the city. Between Sept. 2022 and March 2023, robotaxis operated by Cruise and Waymo caused 12 reported incidents related to San Francisco’s Municipal Transport Agency, Wired previously reported. The actual figure could be much higher.
Those incidents included blocking a bus in a narrow street and stopping just in front of a light-rail train’s path.
Despite the frustrations and safety concerns, robotaxis are in demand.
Bloomberg reported last month that there was a wait list of more than 80,000 people wanting to join the “trusted testers” currently able to ride in Waymo’s fleet of around 200 cars in San Francisco.
The news outlet also said Cruise was averaging 1,000 trips a day in the city, with tens of thousands of people on the company’s wait list.
