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When self-driving cars arouse anger in the United States

A Waymo autonomous vehicle was attacked by an individual on July 5 in Arizona. While this incident may come as a surprise, it is not the first in the state where the company has stepped up its commercial service.

Waymo, Cruise, Tesla… many companies are building self-driving cars to offer them to the public in the United States. However, the arrival of these vehicles on the roads does not delight everyone. On July 5, a self-driving car from Waymo paid the price in the city of Tempe, Arizona. The subsidiary of Alphabet (parent company of Google) launched its commercial service in Phoenix at the end of 2018 and has since been developing it in the state.

According to company statements to The Verge, the vehicle was driving down the street in autonomous mode at 3 a.m., with a security driver on board who regained control after seeing a pedestrian walk towards the car, stopping completely before it jumps on the hood. Described as “erratic” by Waymo spokesman Nick Smith, the individual in question smashed the windshield, injuring the driver who was transported to a medical facility for treatment. The spokesman clarified that he had no “not seriously injured”. The assailant was apprehended by the police.

A contempt linked to accidents

This incident is far from the first in Arizona, where residents do not want to share the road with Waymo’s autonomous vehicles. These were victims of at least twenty attacks in the city of Chandler between 2017 and 2018, according to The Arizona Republic: stone throwing, flat tire… A person even pointed his revolver at one of the cars and the security driver.

If these people do not appreciate autonomous vehicles, it is also because they have been involved in accidents which, in some cases, have been fatal. The person who raised his weapon indicated that he “despised” self-driving cars, referring to the death of a pedestrian in March 2018 following a collision with a driverless Uber vehicle. Accidents are still high today despite the promise of safer driving with these cars. A recent report by the US Federal Highway Safety Agency revealed that they were the cause of 130 accidents between the end of July 2021 and mid-May 2022 in the United States. And, those of Waymo were involved in 62 of them.

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