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Waymo car swarmed by skaters in San Francisco 'hill bomb'
- Pakdef 4y agois this the same video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJO3_UADLGk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJO3_UADLGk I don't have an instagram account...
- trompetenaccoun 4y agoYes, looks like it. You can watch the video without having an account, although the Instagram site is super annoying to navigate when you're not logged in, same as Twitter.
- dredmorbius 4y agoBibliogram is an alternative interface to Instagram: https://bibliogram.art/p/Cf2FPFsPZeD/ https://bibliogram.art/p/Cf2FPFsPZeD/ (Similar to Nitter -> Twitter, Invidious -> YouTube, and Teddit -> Reddit.) Speaking of which: https://yewtu.be/watch?v=TJO3_UADLGk https://yewtu.be/watch?v=TJO3_UADLGk
- dxbydt 4y agowas looking at your link and found this - https://bibliogram.art/p/Cfsna30F2h- https://bibliogram.art/p/Cfsna30F2h- WTF is going on over there ?! So glad I'm safe in the boring midwest.
- jeffbee 4y agoJoking, I assume? These make the news here because they are news. They wouldn't make the news in Indiana, the world capital of freeway shootings.
- vecinu 4y agoI doubt the OP is joking. I left the Bay exactly for reasons like this, I don't want to become collateral damage due to factors outside of my control that are well documented and happening way too often for my liking. Even a few years later, it still surprises me that people in the Bay normalize this type of activity but I guess Stockholm syndrome is strong in the average person.
- Melting_Harps 4y ago> Even a few years later, it still surprises me that people in the Bay normalize this type of activity but I guess Stockholm syndrome is strong in the average person. California born and raised: California was never safe since it's inception as it was always the most renown frontier in the US; it's just where fortunes could be made in a person's lifetime. If you are honest with yourself you also came for the money/title/status and told yourself that because you live in a certain zip code with billionaires it also somehow confers some sort of safety on to you... I saw this play out during COVID and so many who thought that they were somehow residually part of the elite got a rude wakeup call when all the riots and crime shot up. The smart ones took their real estate exit money and left for good. If I'm honest it's like a form of Stockholm syndrome, but it's more like a trophy wife staying in a toxic relationship because she'd have to get used to real life once she ventured outside of a very persuasive bubble existence--at least in the bubble she can take all the xanax and cosmo chasers to normalize the craziness around them. Their is a reason why Cyberpunk 2077 was based in California, the lore just lends itself so well to it and it's why I think it resonated so well for those from there. I also left, and now live on the other side of the World, and I really have no desire of going back until <50% of you people leave so I can finally go back home.
- vecinu 4y ago> "I really have no desire of going back until <50% of you people leave" There are quite a lot of personal attacks and assumptions in your post so I'm just going to ignore them. I came from a very safe metro area in Canada and had no notion of elitism as you so randomly assumed about me. When I moved, Canada was a lot more balanced and there was not a large income/wealth gap as it currently exists in the US. I had no rose colored glasses or impression that because I was "sharing a zip code with billionaires" I would be safe. I took every day as it came and discovered that just existing and living near downtown felt unsafe for me and my family. The most powerful force around discussions of safety and lifestyle is comparison. When you see multiple places with your own eyes and body, it's a lot easier to compare and you get a sense of what feels right or wrong, for you. Your entire response is very strange, it might be helpful to reflect where your perceptions, biases and opinions around wealth come from because you threw a small net and ended up empty handed.
- dredmorbius 4y agoNot specific to Oakland, FWIW: "Skyrocketing Expressway Shootings a Uniquely Chicago Problem, Investigators Say" https://www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/skyrocketing-expressway-shootings-a-uniquely-chicago-problem-investigators-say/2367893/ https://www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/skyrocketing-expre... "1 killed in expressway shooting in NW Indiana - FOX 32 Chicago" https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/1-killed-in-expressway-shooting-in-nw-indiana https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/1-killed-in-expressway-sho... You can find examples for Minnesota (the well-mannered state), Wisconsin, Missouri, and elsewhere. The "but it's safe here" narrative probably isn't valid. I don't have comparative statistics, but keep in mind that California's population is ~40 million compared to 12.5 m for Illinois, and less for surrounding states.
- Pakdef 4y agoI had a road rage woman in Florida point a gun at me on the highway... but she didn't shoot
- deepdriver 4y agoThanks for the link, this makes it easier for my de-Facebooked self to keep abreast of family who remain on Instagram. Do similar alternative interfaces exist for Facebook proper, specifically group and organization pages? I've tried searching but haven't found any. Several local business only have a Facebook presence, no traditional website, and it'd be handy to check their posted hours and menus without creating a second Facebook account for the purpose. Creating such an alt account would also violate Facebook's Terms of Service.
- bko 4y agoWatching videos of this event reminds me of a comedian's bit where he talks about watching Rocky when he was young versus today. When he was young, he would cheer Rocky on while eating those raw eggs. When he watched it when he was older he thought about how hard it would be to get those egg stains off his sweatshirt. I guess that's all to say that I am of the age where I see a bunch of young men shutting down a street, cheering loudly and flying down a hill with no helmet makes me cringe and feel bad for the neighbors.
- throwaway_4ever 4y agoIn an age where people are as lonely and isolated as ever and rightly complain about the ubiquity of car-based transportation, here is a group that has built an actual community around practically carbon-free transportation. Though, yes, even as a skateboarder I don't condone the hill-bombing as it is legitimately too dangerous.
- uhhhhuhyes 4y ago
- Retric 4y agoCars taking over public streets happened because drivers just started killing so many people. It had nothing to do with people choosing cars over walking rather than living over being run over.
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- Apocryphon 4y agoSkate or Die!
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- jeffbee 4y agoNot that I think jumping on the top of someone's car is obviously justified, but I am honestly curious how the car got to this point. Wouldn't it have had to drive past hundreds of people into what was obviously a large gathering to get here?
- thatswrong0 4y agoI was actually there for this event (just as a spectator): most of the people were gathered down at the intersection. The car came down the hill, and then it slowed down as it approaching the intersection because there were.. obviously a ton of people in the intersection. _Then_ everyone swarmed the car / surrounded it / jumped on it / tagged it. It basically didn't move while this was happening. Then eventually the crowd let it through.
- jaclaz 4y agoBut according to the article the car had a driver in it, that "got out safely". Besides the car being a Waymo (which may or may not be part of the reason why it was "swarmed"), it must not have been such a great experience for the driver to be circled and have people jumping on the car bonnet and roof, I guess it could have happened to any car happening to pass by that intersection.
- thatswrong0 4y agoOther cars did try to pass through the intersection, and were also stopped / surrounded / jumped on. But for a lot less time, with fewer people jumping on it, and as far as I can tell, the Waymo was the only one that was tagged. Definitely would not have been a pleasant experience. And all cars were eventually let through after some heckling / jumping.
- yomkippur 4y ago
- zumu 4y agoDisruptive gatherings of rebellious youths is definitely a thing in East Asia. In my day, they'd have been on scooters or low CC motorcycles and making a LOT of noise. Not sure what the kids ride these days.
- kstrauser 4y agoThat’s too bad. I don’t condone destructiveness, but love living somewhere that kids will regularly get together and say, hey, let’s try something wildly risky and flashy just for the thrill of it. I’d rather deal with hill bombers than sideshows any time.
- la64710 4y agoI don’t want to deal with this crap. Nobody stopping anyone from skating and living dangerously. But breaking other peoples property is not the right thing. Live and let live.
- Apocryphon 4y agoIt looks like the car got tagged but is otherwise unscathed. It was just delayed for a moment and received a minor custom paint job. Hardly broken property.
- hemloc_io 4y agowhat lol how about Bōsōzoku the youth subculture in Japan that loves fast motorcycles and illegal street races in the 80s/90s? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C5%8Ds%C5%8Dzoku#:~:text=B%C5%8Ds%C5%8Dzoku%20(%E6%9A%B4%E8%B5%B0%E6%97%8F%2C%20lit.,estimated%2042%2C510%20members%20in%201982 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C5%8Ds%C5%8Dzoku#:~:text=B%C....
- Apocryphon 4y agoIt’s like you’ve never heard of Tokyo drift
- roflchoppa 4y agoSkating hills is tough. The last time I skated SF we went from Colma all the way down into Market then up to the POFA. Great times, def exhausting… hats off to the kids keeping that dream alive.
- la64710 4y agoYes but please don’t wreck innocent peoples property and life with your dreams. Be a human!
- InitialLastName 4y ago> and life The only sign I see of anybody getting injured (much less killed) here is a skateboarder, which seems to me to be a self-imposed risk. Did I miss some innocent people getting hurt somewhere?
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- roflchoppa 4y agothey just wanted to give us a friendly reminder, its all good :)
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- newjersey 4y ago
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- Afforess 4y ago
- CoastalCoder 4y ago> These people are criminals and belong in prison, hopefully for life. Why such a strong punishment? I can see wanting to punish them harshly enough that they'll never do it again, and maybe to dissuade others as well. But lifetime imprisonment seems to go well beyond that.
- newjersey 4y ago
- Apocryphon 4y agoAh, New Jersey, that bastion of law and order, where crime must be organized or it cannot happen at all.
- dang 4y ago"Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead." a.k.a. please don't feed the trolls https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- CoastalCoder 4y agoThanks. I didn't flag it because it was the only comment arguing the law and order angle.
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- zahma 4y ago
- WalterBright 4y agoWhen I was in high school, the local teens would gather every Friday night on a certain commercial street downtown, and would drag race from light to light. Of course it was illegal, but the cops had a quiet understanding that as long as it was just that section of road, they wouldn't interfere. It was great fun. Not only were kids drag racing their cars, a lot more were showing off their cars, hanging out at the drive in joints lining the strip, etc. I remember one older boy had my fantasy Mustang, very heavily modified. My Dodge is an ode to that start to my devotion to muscle cars :-) Unfortunately, some parents eventually complained and the cops were forced to shut it down. All part of the general removal of fun from our society.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- WalterBright 4y agoThe only thing that has topped my lifelong addiction to V8s and their noise, smell, and hearing damage, is I once managed to get a ride in the back of a P-51 Mustang. For those that don't know, that has a V12 that generates an astonishing amount of power. That was the ride of a lifetime. The machine just leaped into the air when the throttle was opened wide. (Of course it wasn't weighed down with ammunition, bombs, and tip tanks. Just my fat ass.) And so I envy Tom Cruise, who is rich enough to have his very own P-51, and writes it off as a business expense :-/
- mgraczyk 4y agoIdk after a few near death experiences with people racing by me in SF, I'm cool with kids finding fun in other places. I did a lot of dangerous stupid shit with my car as a teenager. Some of my friends were seriously injured doing similar things. Fortunately we never killed anybody, but not worth it.
- WalterBright 4y agoThis wasn't particularly dangerous. It was confined to a mile of a 4 lane road, straight, well lit, the businesses were set back a ways, no traffic. The kids knew if they caused trouble they'd be shut down. Frankly it was mostly just revving engines and showing off. In those days you could buy a working 440 roadrunner that'd press your eyeballs back in their sockets for $400. I almost bought a 68 Chevy Super Sport with some massive engine in it for $600. Sometimes I wonder if it was a good thing I didn't buy it :-/ That car today would cost a bleedin fortune. Those people who do free climbing, they're crazy, and have a short life expectancy. Not something I'd ever consider. But I'm not going to tell them they can't do it.
- foxes 4y agoWhy is the HN title “trashed” when the original article has “swarmed”? Jumping on a car isn’t trashing it.
- juunpp 4y ago
- Apocryphon 4y agoIt sounds like skater speech, or surfer speech, or what I imagine it to be anyhow. This story is pretty delightful just for capturing that this subculture still remains strong, all of these decades after. The kids are outdoors and getting into comic mischief.
- mullingitover 4y agoOof, these poor kids. I can't imagine what's going to happen to them financially, but I feel like doing a lot of property damage to a vehicle that's bristling with high resolution cameras, in the age of easy facial recognition, is going to have consequences. Maybe they're just so privileged that their default expectation is that their parents will bail them out of anything, and maybe they're right.
- jakebebdj 4y ago
- Animats 4y ago"My phone just stopped working!" "Mine too." "Your account has been terminated for violating Google's terms of service".
- jahewson 4y agoI don’t really see much damage being done in the video? Certainly nothing being smashed up.
- nradov 4y agoProperty crimes aren't really prosecuted in SF. Perhaps that will change somewhat with the new DA, but serious consequences are unlikely. (I'm just stating the reality of the situation, not trying to excuse or justify it.)
- fny 4y agoHere's the title of the posted video: "Skaters Mob on High Tech Surveillance Car in San Francisco" Meanwhile, its posted on Instagram[0]... and in the video you see a bajillion phones out recording the event. Oh the irony... [0]: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf2FPFsPZeD/ https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf2FPFsPZeD/
- rektide 4y agoThis attempt to counter-chastize rings hollow to me. We all have phones we can use to film things. Yes. They do an ok 1080p, many technically can do 4k but look close at the capture & you'll see it's largely mush. To record, people have to pull put their phones & aim that at things: a specific & noticable event. One that typically comes at very significant battery usage costs. Now by compare here's a vehicle with multiple sensor devices that cost multiple thousands of dollars a piece. You can jolly well bet these are predominntly always on devices. There's no indicator for when these devices might send the data back to the mothership or not- a true panoptician design; the threat of recordings being sent up is perpetually implied, it's medium-term buffers likely to get uploaded if anything happens or sampled anyways just because. These high end sensor platforms are actively roaming, are driving about, working together to gain a vast top down composite view of the world, something again a couple random instagram feeds provides only the faintest most distant glimmer of. The power control & hierarchy here is clear as day to me. Fearing uncoordinated masses with low res handheld phones feels ridiculous by compare.
- AirMax98 4y agoThe way we build cities around the car in the USA is kind of a blight, so I can't help but be somewhat relieved to see that other people look at these Waymo cars, with all that they stand for, as worthy of ridicule.
- Gigachad 4y agoWhen car tech gets good enough to avoid almost all incidents with people, something drastic is going to happen. Naturally everyone will just step out on the road causing the cars to stop. So either driving through a city will become a situation you avoid if at all possible, or governments install fences and barriers everywhere and make walking without right of way a serious crime.
- miketery 4y agoOr cars are no longer a thing in high density zones in some cities (e.g. NY, London, Montreal). Only buses and vans. Some private cars w/ driver - but say $1000 tax / day.
- incompatible 4y agoYou can step out on the road and a car with a driver will nearly always stop. They may sound the horn, or open the window and yell at you, as could a passenger in a driverless car.
- Gigachad 4y agoThe average person doesn’t want to rely on “nearly always”. Especially with how many drivers are on their phones.
- danw1979 4y agoBeing able to freely walk across the road knowing that I have right of way and that the traffic is guaranteed to stop and let me pass sounds like like paradise compared to how things are currently. I’m not sure I’d be all that sympathetic to those drivers (passengers ?) who wouldn’t take their car into the city because of those pesky pedestrians!
- brian-armstrong 4y agoThis article's a nothing burger. Saved you a click!
- thepasswordis 4y agoWhere's the "hill bomb"? https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf2FPFsPZeD/ https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf2FPFsPZeD/ This is a bunch of kids swarming a car and dancing on top of it. None of them even look like they have skateboards with them.
- ramblerman 4y agoWhen you give things a "name" it somehow justifies the behavior. Even if there was a hill bomb it wouldn't justify this in my mind.
- almost_usual 4y agoThose views and clicks only make some billionaire more money. These kids feel rebellious though, that’s efficient capitalism.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- dahdum 4y agoI don't see the "hill bomb", but I see a bunch of kids swarming and climbing on a stopped car with, I'd wager, a frightened driver inside. Seems like those kids are lucky the driver didn't floor it trying to protect themselves.
- Melting_Harps 4y ago> I don't see the "hill bomb", but I see a bunch of kids swarming and climbing on a stopped car with, I'd wager, a frightened driver inside. It's all there in that video [0], I must caveat and say it's not my preferred source just the 1st I saw on YT with both events, and it seems the Waymo event was an after-event party antic. Considering how devastated the Bay Area looks like now with mass homelessness and immense wealth inequality (we saw a glimpse of how volatile those two look like in 2020-21 on local businesses) if a scratched or damaged waymo car is the worst that happened that day I'd say they got off easy, hell waymo got free PR as it was shared all over social and normal media. They can use it as a KPI for their marketing team. 0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJO3_UADLGk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJO3_UADLGk
- Ansil849 4y agoWhy is this bullshit tolerated? What I see is a band of thugs terrorizing a person. And I say this as someone who skateboarded all through junior high and high school. We did so while doing our best not to be living stereotypes of being braindead assholes.
- Komodai 4y ago> which was not in driverless mode and had a real person operating the vehicle instantly became uninteresting.