When the city of San Francisco held a hearing last week on an incident that caused hundreds of Waymo robotaxis to stop dead in their tracks, it became a rallying point for labor activists, rideshare drivers, and concerned citizens to vent their grief with autonomous vehicles.
According to one new study, that’s no coincidence — but instead an early sign of explosive backlash as self-driving taxis rapidly expand throughout the United States.
The study, a survey of more than 4,600 responses to questions on self-driving cars collected by the Pew Research Center, found widespread distrust with the vehicles. According to reporting by the San Diego Union-Tribune, about 85 percent of those surveyed believe the rollout of driverless cars will lead to job losses. A further 70 percent said self-driving cars are a “bad idea for society,” or that they were unsure about how to regard the technology — meaning there’s only a pitiful slice of the population who outright supports the vehicles…