@tagesschau #WeekOfCone

#WeekOfCone

(inspired by https://mastodon.social/@docpop/110696029754724792 )

AV companies partner with police and serve as tools of mass surveillance. A city-wide, moving network observing and analyzing everything that happens outdoors is something out of a dystopian movie, not a democratic society.

Robotaxi companies have made big promises about accessibility, but their actions show their true values. Their cars are not wheelchair accessible and do not pull up to the curb. Paratransit is accountable to the public, but Cruise & Waymo are only accountable to shareholders.

#weekOfCone

ConeSF is so back, and this time, along with coning robotaxis, we're asking you to demand that the state finally reign in Cruise and Waymo.

Here’s how - https://www.safestreetrebel.com/robotaxis/

#sfPol #bikeTooter #transit #weekOfCone

@burritojustice Traumatized by #weekofcone?

@inquiline I'm well familiar with this tendency of the mainstream press, which is why I've been pleasantly surprised (and sometimes wondered: what's the catch?) when @SafeStreetRebel actions like #WeekOfCone have actually gotten sympathetic coverage.

Waymo's PR team, apparently working overtime to counter #WeekOfCone, got a front-page story in the Chronicle on their analysis showing 33% of drivers in SF speed. To that I say: Why don't we add speed governors to human-driven cars? Best of both worlds, the speed-limit-obeying programming without all the AVs' other erratic behavior.

"Technology for laundering accountability" is also a good characterization of autonomous vehicles. When one hits you, or your child or pet, there's no driver to accuse of driving irresponsibly. There's only code, which is falsely perceived as objective and therefore, by definition, not at fault.

The code may be written to drive aggressively because that makes for quicker rides and a more profitable business, but that's hidden from view. #WeekOfCone

QT @sjolsen https://tech.lgbt/@sjolsen/110711092450788460

I have mixed and inconclusive feelings about the #weekOfCone business, but I'll grant that y'all might finally have taught SFPD/SFFD a more effective way to stop an AV from driving into an emergency scene than their current mainstays of (a) shouting at it and (b) hitting it with a stick.

@transponderings Thanks for sharing the word about #WeekOfCone!

@sgt1372 @TheOverheadWire It does. Look for the #weekOfCone hashtag

🚨 Self-driving cars are no longer on the CPUC agenda for this Thursday 🚨

The vote will be delayed a month.

The work isn't over, but there's a lot more hope than there was a few hours ago.

Full statement and more details:

https://www.safestreetrebel.com/cpuc-delay-statement/

#weekOfCone

@SafeStreetRebel I loved the #WeekOfCone video I saw on the bad place. Bravo bravo! 👏 👏 👏

This Thursday, the CUPC is being asked to override the concerns of the city of San Francisco and expand this barely regulated program, giving the city no power to control the experiment these corporations are inflicting on us.

Even if you're pro AV, you're probably imagining an AV subject to regulations, made for the benefit of the public. That's not what we're getting right now. In fact, they’re trying to push ahead and expand before any regulations can be written.

This is why we're doing this now, the week before the CUPC hearing:

https://tinyurl.com/WeekOfCone

(which links to https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/events-and-meetings/cpuc-voting-meeting-2023-07-13)

#weekOfCone

Another huge problem with AVs is not about the technology, but about corporate impunity. Corporations expect to be above the law, to "move fast and break things".

Self-driving cars can't be cited for traffic violations. They share as little incident data as possible, so we only know the extent of the problems they cause from the news or social media. They are somehow exempt from accessibility requirements, and won't even pull to the curb to drop people off or pick them up.

Anecdotally, they seem to have become more aggressive as soon as they have started taking customers. Suddenly they're forcing pedestrians out of crosswalks, for instance. But they don't have to tell the public about any such changes.

We know that there's no market for safe cars. Cars are designed to speed, and Tesla "self-driving" already has a mode for breaking the law. If customers expect cars to drive fast and recklessly, and it's profitable for the corporations to oblige, that's what we're going to get.

#weekOfCone

Vice: ‘Week of Cone’: Activist Group Is Protesting Driverless Cars by Disabling Them With Traffic Cones https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bvjv48/week-of-cone-activist-group-is-protesting-driverless-cars-by-disabling-them-with-traffic-cones #Self-DrivingCars #autonomouscars #sanfrancisco #WeekofCone #Moveable #Cruise #waymo

Ein Hüttchen aufsetzen hilft. #weekofcone https://t3n.de/news/san-francisco-autonome-autos-proteste-1563214/

The #weekOfCone hashtag reads like a Cory Doctorow novel to me. I had no idea that robotaxis were already prowling the streets of San Francisco so I’m having a very “the future is not evenly distributed” moment

We love that the media is covering #weekOfCone, but they're mostly avoiding talking about one of the biggest problems: surveillance.

A self-driving car network is a city-wide surveillance network under corporate control (as summarized in the SF police department's own training materials!)

A world where cars are all replaced with surveillance robots is a world where everything you are doing is being watched. Where they watch you go from your home to a protest, or to get gender-affirming care, or to get an abortion. And because they're a private entity, who knows what (if any) restrictions there will be on what they do with that data.

Article (with linked SFPD document): https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7dw8x/san-francisco-police-are-using-driverless-cars-as-mobile-surveillance-cameras

Traffic cones do seem to be de facto common property a lot of the time. Someone leaves one, someone takes one. #WeekOfCone