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Arizona Luddites Attack Self-Driving Vehicles
There have been 21 separate attacks on self-driving cars since 2017.
Another safety driver was threatened with a PVC pipe, while other incidents involve people throwing rocks, blocking routes, and slashing the tires of Waymo vehicles. There are also attempts to derail the car while it is autonomously driving. One particular Jeep last year tried to run the Chrysler Pacificas off the road six times.
(Via 9to5google.)
Writer David H. Keller wrote one of the clearest descriptions of driverless cars in his 1935 short story The Living Machine. Since then, there have been a variety of different conceptions, ranging from Robert Heinlein's Camden speedster in Methuselah's Children (1941) to the automatic control car from Arthur C. Clarke's 1976 novel Imperial Earth.
However, not all portrayals of autonomous vehicles are pleasant. Consider Stephen King's short story Trucks, which described a rebellion by autonomous trucks (brief movie clip below).
The most brazen incident took place this August when a man armed with a handgun tried to scare the safety driver in an autonomous Chrysler Pacifica. That man in question cited the Uber incident that killed a pedestrian earlier this year, and was eventually charged with aggravated assault and disorderly conduct.
(Stephen King's 'Trucks' 1997)
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Related News Stories - (" Transportation ")
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'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street...' - Stanley G. and Helen Weinbaum, 1938.
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