We haven’t seen too much of self driving vans here in the UK…but across the pond in the USA…they are starting to attract attention.
Take Arizona for example, where a Waymo self driving van attracted the wrong kind of attention.
A shirtless man jumped in front of the Waymo self driving van and pulled out a gun. A 22 caliber Harrington and Richardson Sportsman revolver to be exact.
He pointed the gun directly at the self driving van, but no bullets were fired that day.
Police are saying this was an act of intimidation towards the Waymo. A way of saying…”get out of my neighbourhood, you are not welcome here.”
The man was later arrested (still with no shirt on) and taken to County Jail where he was charged and awaits sentence.
Arizona Police have warned this is not an isolated incident and is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to “Waymo HATE” in the scorching heat of the Arizona Desert.
Apparently it is a common sight to see rocks being thrown at self driving Waymo vans, and one van even had its tire slashed while stopping at a red light.
Other enraged Arizona residents have gone on yelling tirades against the Waymo vans, while another vigilante in a jeep forced the same Waymo self driving van off the road 6 times.
Why so much hate? I think many humans are starting to feel marginalised in this new world of automated technology and robots. Maybe they even feel threatened, almost as if the robots are taking over?
In my opinion this is just their way of saying…”we are still here. We still run this town.”
Only it is a losing battle, because self driving vans are very much here to stay both in America and around the world.
Here at CVI we applaud the efforts of Waymo and their self driving vans and we condemn vigilante acts in Arizona or anywhere else in America.
Hopefully the same thing doesn’t start to happen here on UK shores when Waymo, Ford, Apple, and Tesla start ruling the roads with their self driving vans.
We hope all of you van owners embrace the change and roll out the red carpet for this new technology.
Unfortunately I reckon there may be some problems. Perhaps some disgruntled (former) delivery drivers who are out of a job or a white van man just looking for any opportunity to let off some steam and some rage.
Fortunately you will be able to read about all of the exploits here at the CVI Blog. While at the same time comparing van insurance from around 40 companies and brokers.