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Robotaxis are multiplying across the US, and as they do, a not-so-flattering pattern is riding shotgun. Not only do robotaxi companies themselves put a significant strain on public resources, they’re training the public to act just as entitled as they are.
As a recent article by Bloomberg points out, riders hopping into driverless cabs from Waymo, Tesla, and Zoox are treating driverless trips as a license to unwind.
With no human behind the wheel, riders feel like they have no social contract to follow. As a result, they’re turning robotaxis into trash cans, leaving behind spilled drinks, food scraps, and in some cases, bodily fluids like vomit for the next unlucky sap.
Granted, it’s probably easier said than done to clean a mess from a robocab once it’s been made: as one unfortunate Waymo rider discovered in May, the vehicles will sometimes speed off within seconds of dropping you off, even if you have bags in the trunk.
Others are using their robotaxi rides as roving sleep pods. It’s tough to say how common this particular behavior is, but Bloomberg notes that first responders in Austin, Texas got so many calls about dozing riders during Waymo’s first nine months in the city that they had to invent a new category just for “sleepers.”
Elsewhere, people are treating their self-driving cars more like party buses. In April, a Tesla driver was arrested after police found him passed out behind the self-driving wheel, having polished off a buffet of wine coolers and pizza before dozing off.
Sure, none of this will really affect you unless robotaxis are part of your daily commute. But as discussion around the robotaxi’s broader impact on society grows more urgent, it’s worth noting that hailing one seems to put you in a league with some of the worst riders currently in the game.
More on robotaxis: Drivers Trapped for Hours in Hopeless Gridlock as Waymos Brick on Major Holiday