Many people were surprised that Waymo's robotaxis were a target in the recent LA protests. The protests themselves seemed unrelated. They were at first small and about immigration, and then larger and about the deployment of the military against the civilian population.
So, where do robotaxis fit in here?
Are they a symbol of wider discontent with Big Tech? If so, what does that mean for the future? Will many people turn against Big Tech on polarized political lines? Or does it signal a wider shift against AI & robotics, on both the left and right?
What would the 2030s and 2040s look like if many people have turned against Big Tech?
Google's Waymo robotaxis have been destroyed during recent protests in LA. – Does this signal a future turn against robotics, and if so – why?
byu/lughnasadh inFuturology
19 Comments
Occam’s razor
The robotaxi’s don’t know to avoid certain areas, and got parked/block in when they drove into an unsafe area.
Regular drivers would not have driven into that area.
The left hates new software
The right hates new hardware
Self driving cars have both
It’s a glib canard but it works for most of the luddite anti tech nonsense from all sides in 2025
Fwiw I don’t really think waymos were targeted cuz this was an anti tech thing I think they’re just cheap and unlikely to hurt anyone if you destroy them
Reading way too much into this. It’s just violent rioters looking for stuff to destroy and robo taxis don’t have owners who will shoot you if you try to destroy them.
No the Waymo’s taxis were the only thing dumb enough to keep coming to the heart of the riot . The rioters literally called for them again and again to torch them and they just kept coming
the waymos were circling protestors. they’re unmanned vehicles with 29 cameras continuously recording. ICE has been taking pictures of anyone who questions them or records them taking people into custody. it’s not big tech the protestors have beef with. it’s constant surveilance and federal overreach.
Rebels commonly seek to resist the machines of commerce
I thought people were destroying these because Waymo was sending camera data of protesters to law enforcement rather than any anti-tech sentiment.
lol, that is not what happened.
What did not happen, “Protestors purposely destroyed robot taxis!”
What happened, “Protestors destroyed property that was in their marching path!”
ITT a lot of people who don’t seem to realize how much certain people hate Waymo and broader automation
Unwanted invasive AI is a source of fear and frustration. All the bad things get blobbed together in these situations. Angry mobs aren’t being analytical about their rage. It’s all the same class warfare/extermination, disguised as immigration or tech.
Law enforcement can depose the camera data from Waymo taxis.
Waymo is trying to fully automate away the careers of the 3.5 million truck drivers in the United States. That’s its entire value proposition. No investor cares about an additional feature for a luxury car. Whether you agree with that goal or not, it makes total sense why average working class americans would be highly resistant to that process. In this case resistance involved gasoline and hammers.
not a new thing.
lots of vidoes of mall security bots getting beat on by kids.
New and different = strange and scary = beat it. Unless it can defent itself or someone else comes and helps.
It goes down smoother to destroy the property of a megacorp than to destroy some random person’s car. Waymo vehicles are unoccupied, and if you’re gonna burn a car for whatever reason, it’s a fine choice.
If I were to loop Waymo, AI, automation, and robotics into the political mix, I would say my stance is this: If you’re going to replace a job with tech, you must take care of the person. Under the current framework of American capitalism, the people are not going to be taken care of. I am **all for** technology insofar as it serves to make life more comfortable for everyone.
(FWIW, regarding the morality of burning cars — the powers-that-be will not grant any ground to purely peaceful protest, because it allows maintaining the status quo of kidnapping children from their graduation ceremonies. The goal of demanding that protest be ‘peaceful’ is to ensure that it can be simply ignored. Some amount of demonstration that there is a real threat of change ‘one way or the other’ is unfortunately necessary to get it through fascists’ thick skulls that people will not sit idly by. I do not specifically condone the destruction of private property, but this is not happening in a vacuum.)
Simply targets of opportunity. If you have never lived through a protest turned riot, emotions are inflamed, people are angry, groupthink takes hold, and that shit gets crazy fast. Especially when the fed response is to escalate. If you aren’t old enough to remember, Google image search the 1992 Los Angeles Riots.
LA knows how to throw a party
Some say protesters called them in to torch them, while others say quick-thinking law enforcement officers hailed them to hotspots to get perfect video recordings they could subpoena later, and data uniformed officers could never safely get.
The people who ordered the rides are easily identifiable. This fact alone should tell you who did what.
They weren’t burned because they are robots, they were burned because people could easily call one down to the protests and people could light them on fire to stop the police from pushing back
This could be revealing of peoples’ attitudes towards autonomous technology. This could’ve been a rage against big tech, who people are feeling increasingly screwed over by and powerless against. It feels like getting a “free lunch” in that you can destroy something significant but it feels like nobody is harmed in the process.
See, I told the city, I said “Look, nobody comes down here.” Postmen figured it out. Policemen figured it out. But the goddamned Waymo’s just wouldn’t listen.