'Feel Sorry For The Bots:' Tesla CEO Elon Musk Reacts To Waymo Robotaxi Vandalism In San Francisco

Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk on Sunday responded to the resistance against self-driving cars in San Francisco and expressed his sympathies for autonomous vehicles.

What Happened: Musk on Sunday expressed shock at a video shared on X of an individual attacking a driverless Waymo car in San Francisco. The person is seen damaging the windshield while standing on the vehicle’s hood in the video.

“Does make you feel sorry for the bots,” Musk wrote.

Waymo is Alphabet Inc‘s autonomous driving unit and currently operates robotaxis in San Francisco and Phoenix. The company intends to expand services to Los Angeles and Austin soon despite instances of violence in San Francisco.

In February earlier this year, a crowd vandalized and even set fire to a Waymo robotaxi using a firework in Chinatown. The incident is described as the most severe attack on autonomous vehicles in the U.S. to date and demonstrates the hostility toward autonomous vehicles in the city.

Musk’s Robotaxi Dreams: Musk’s Tesla also aims to develop self-driving robotaxis. The Tesla-made robotaxi is expected to be unveiled on Aug. 8.

On Tuesday, the CEO said that dedicating to autonomous driving is a "blindly obvious move" for Tesla.

"Not quite betting the company, but going balls to the wall for autonomy is a blindingly obvious move," Musk wrote. "Everything else is like variations on a horse carriage."

Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.

Read More: ‘No Real Use Case:’ Cybertruck’s Lead Engineer Asks What GM’s ‘CrabWalk’ Feature Is Good For After Revealing Tesla ‘Played’ With Idea

Photo via Shutterstock

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