Artificial intelligence may have shown the would-be-leader of the free world who's really in charge, after rogue robo-taxis halted the motorcade of US vice-president – and Democratic Party presidential candidate – Kamala Harris.

ABC7 News Bay Area [1]reported that as Harris's motorcade passed through San Francisco on Friday night, it encountered a Waymo self-driving taxi that failed to make a U-turn. The veep's motorcade stopped, and traffic banked up behind the stricken robot until a police officer drove it away.

[2]Youtube Video

[3]

The report above mentions a second confused Waymo getting in the vice-president's way and delaying her journey.

[4]

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Self-driving taxis are a common sight in San Francisco. Your humble vulture recently rode one without incident.

But locals aren't always happy to see them trundle by: a mob [6]torched a Waymo in February 2024.

[7]

Self-driving cars have been involved in numerous incidents. We've reported them [8]hitting telephone poles and [9]driving on the wrong side of the road . We've also covered the sad case of a car in self-driving mode – but with a human behind the wheel – [10]causing a fatality .

[11]What do Uber drivers make of Waymo? 'We are cooked'

[12]Uber and China's BYD agree deal to roll out 100,000 EV fleet

[13]Waymo robotaxis set to cruise past red tape into LA and beyond

[14]Two big computer vision papers boost prospect of safer self-driving vehicles

It is unclear if the cars that got in the way of Harris's motorcade were glitching, or if the incident signifies the beginning of a robot uprising or other AI-organized political protest.

With the US presidential election now just 36 days away, the robots appear to have left their run a little late. Few of them operate outside California, a state likely to support Harris and other Democratic party candidates resoundingly, despite the widely held belief in Silicon Valley's techno-utopian community that automation and AI will lead the world into a new golden era. ®

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[1] https://abc7news.com/post/caught-video-driverless-cars-get-stuck-motorcade-route-vp-kamala-harris-returns-san-francisco-fundraiser/15366514/

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzRTN7k_vEE

[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Zvp2w_ii7QNBEmJqHXxwZgAAAQ0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zvp2w_ii7QNBEmJqHXxwZgAAAQ0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zvp2w_ii7QNBEmJqHXxwZgAAAQ0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/12/waymo_destroyed_san_francisco/

[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zvp2w_ii7QNBEmJqHXxwZgAAAQ0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/12/waymo_software_recall/

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/23/waymo_selfdriving_car_unicycle/

[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/31/tesla_fsd_motorcyclist_killed/

[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/07/uber_driver_waymo/

[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/uber_byd_deal/

[13] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/21/waymo_expansion/

[14] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/29/computer_vision_nature_self_driving/

[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/