A select group of protestors in the San Francisco Bay area are demobilizing robotaxi EVs operated by companies like Waymo and Cruise by placing orange construction cones over their sensors. While opposition to this technology has been present in small doses for years, the resistance against autonomous vehicles has recently gotten more press following a recent vote to expand the services in California. Is this a fear of autonomy or just a fear of change in general?
Self-driving cars, currently present in today’s automotive landscape in several varying tiers of true autonomy, remain a polarizing form of technology for a multitude of reasons. The most often discussed is probably whether we can truly reach full autonomy to the point of humans not operating their vehicles at all anymore.
Some automakers like Tesla have been overpromising and underdelivering on this prospect for years, while others have adopted a less radical approach to driver assistance, settling for Level 2+ or even Level 3 autonomous driving, leaving the others to try and sort out Level 4 and perhaps, one day, Level 5.
One segment in electric mobility that has made the most headway in self-driving vehicles is the robotaxi – led by startups empowered by big innovation and even bigger investments from legacy automakers like GM and capital venture firms who see the potential in rideshares without human error.
While other cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Austin start to lure startups away from Northern California, Silicon Valley remains a major hub for nascent technologies, including robotaxis. While companies like Motional, Cruise, Waymo, and Zoox have made commendable progress in the segment, not everyone around town is clapping.
In San Francisco, a group of robotaxi vigilantes believes the EVs do more harm to traffic conditions than good and have begun immobilizing the cars using traffic cones.
Safe Street Rebels choose the cone as a robotaxi weapon
This act of rideshare deterrence is being referred to as “coning” by a group of Bay Area NIMBYs (although I doubt too many people have a yard in SF), who refer to themselves as the “Safe Street Rebels.”
For the last month or so, the “Rebels” have been placing traffic cones atop robotaxis, rendering them stationary until the orange rubber is removed or the system is rebooted. One could argue that removing a cone from a construction zone or freezing a vehicle in the middle of the street could create more danger for others in traffic, but not according to the “Safe Street” posse.
Robotaxis donning these new debilitating cone crowns is the result of tantrums opposition to a recent vote of approval by the California Public Utilities Commission to expand commercial robotaxi rides throughout San Francisco, allowing startups like Waymo to begin charging passengers for rides.
The cone head protestors have been emboldened by the local transport agency, alongside some city and fire officials in San Francisco, who have said the robotaxis can interfere with emergency responders… just like human drivers, bicyclists, and the occasional pedestrian strolling around on their phone.
Although companies like Cruise and Waymo have not shared how many robotaxis have been coned since the August 10 approval vote, a representative for the former said the number of incidents has already significantly declined. Perhaps the Safe Street Rebels ran out of cones or, better yet, has begun refocusing its energy on helping the people of San Francisco who are actually living on the street and are so desperately in need of assistance and care.
Electrek’s Take
We cover robotaxis all the time, and this narrative never changes. There are hundreds of traffic incidents in a given city each day, brought on by human error, yet a driverless car makes one wrong turn or freezes up, and the technology is suddenly the real danger out there in the streets.
Change the record.
Obviously, this remains a new and emerging technology that will not come without its fair share of bugs, but the progress made to date has been staggering. I’m sure this group of self-proclaimed “rebels” is a very small sample of opposition compared to the general population that supports fewer cars on roads, less pollution, and less of a necessity to own a vehicle in a large city, but unfortunately, negative news like this often gets the spotlight.
I’m guilty as I write this, giving attention to a group that is, in my opinion, a nonstarter in the overall history of autonomous driving, but I feel it’s important to point out that this technology will continue to improve and expand. Whether you embrace safer and more efficient transportation or use paper-thin examples to hide the fact that you simply fear change is up to you.
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U.S. President Donald Trump holds up an executive order after signing it during an indoor inauguration parade at Capital One Arena on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Donald Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th president of the United States.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Renewable energy giants appear relatively sanguine about U.S. President Donald Trump‘s anti-wind policies, describing the process of replacing fossil fuels with electrically powered products as “absolutely unstoppable.”
In a standalone executive order, which had been widely expected, the president temporarily suspended new or renewed leases for offshore and onshore wind projects and halted the leasing of wind power projects on the outer continental shelf.
“We are not going to do the wind thing. Big ugly windmills, they ruin your neighborhood,” Trump told his supporters at the Capital One Area in Washington on Monday. He previously described wind turbines as an economic and environmental “disaster.”
The measures formed part of a much broader energy offensive designed to “unleash” already booming oil and gas production. This included declaring a national energy emergency, promoting fossil fuel drilling in Alaska and signing an executive order to withdraw the U.S. from the landmark Paris Agreement.
Joe Kaeser, chairman of the supervisory board of Siemens Energy, one of the world’s biggest renewables players, seemed unfazed by Trump’s sweeping energy agenda. In fact, Kaeser considered the policies a “slight plus” for the German energy technology group.
Shares of Siemens Energy jumped more than 8% on Wednesday morning, hitting a new 52-week high.
“We need to see what’s behind all the executive orders and the policies. So far, I believe there are many areas where actually Siemens Energy benefits a lot,” Kaeser told CNBC’s Dan Murphy at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday.
There will be uncertainty for low-carbon energy sectors, such as onshore and offshore wind, Kaeser said, before adding that Trump’s measures were unlikely to directly impact Siemens Energy. That’s partly because roughly 80% of the firm’s wind market is in Europe, Kaeser said.
“So, I believe that doesn’t move the needle. I’m much more worried about the European economies and how they deal with a very powerful nation, with a very powerful concept. We may or may not like it, because it’s got some nationalistic type of things, but if we look at it from the view of the American people, we better get something going,” Kaeser said.
Beyond onshore and offshore wind, Kaeser said Siemens Energy was well positioned to capitalize from a “booming” electrification market.
“Think about the data centers, artificial intelligence, we have waiting times now on large gas turbines. Actually, customers are coming and saying, hey can I make a reservation and I’ll pay you for a reservation? Just think about that. It hasn’t happened for a long time,” Kaeser said.
“I believe the electrification age has just begun. Whether that’s gas turbines or wind or solar or something else, we’ve got everything, and the customers decide in the end. And one thing I believe one should not underestimate, the White House is not buying much [but] the customer does,” he added.
‘Very, very optimistic’
Spanish renewable energy giant Iberdrola was similarly bullish about the road to full electrification, describing the transition away from fossil fuels as “absolutely unstoppable.”
“We are seeing that probably we are in the best moment for electrification,” Ignacio Galán, executive chairman of Iberdrola, told CNBC at WEF on Tuesday.
Galán cited soaring global demand for electrically powered data centers, low-emission vehicles as well as cooling and heating applications.
A logo on the nacelle of a wind turbine at the Martin de la Jara wind farm, operated by Iberdrola SA, in the Martin de la Jara district of Sevilla, Spain, on Friday, April 21, 2023.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
“All of those things require more electricity 24 hours a day. Our business in the United States is mostly in this area, which is networks … and the regulation depends on the state authority, so I think that is not really affected at all,” Galán said.
“Depending on the legislation, we will make more or less investment in another part of our business,” he added, referring to Trump’s energy policy.
“We are very, very optimistic about the United States and the future,” Galán said.
Wind power woes
Shares of some European wind power giants fell shortly after Trump took aim at wind power plans.
Denmark’s Orsted, which recently announced a roughly $1.7 billion impairment charge on U.S. projects, dipped 4.4% on Wednesday morning, extending steep losses from the previous session.
The rapidly growing offshore wind sector has endured a torrid time in recent years, hampered by rising costs, supply chain disruption and higher interest rates.
Windmills pictured during a press moment of Orsted, on Tuesday 06 August 2024, on the transportation of goods with Heavy Lift Cargo Drones to the offshore wind turbines in the Borssele 1 and 2 wind farm in Zeeland, Netherlands.
Nicolas Maeterlinck | Afp | Getty Images
Artem Abramov, head of new energies research at Rystad Energy, said Trump’s energy agenda essentially means the likelihood of any new offshore developments in the U.S. has fallen to zero — at least for now.
“The US currently has around 2.4 gigawatts (GW) of advanced-stage offshore wind developments that have reached final investment decision and are under construction, which are unlikely to be impacted by the order,” Abramov said in a research note published Tuesday.
“Moderate risk amid the unfavorable investment climate is present for 10.5 GW of projects which secured necessary permits but have not reached investment decisions,” Abramov said.
“The remaining 25 GW of early-stage projects are unlikely to see any progress under the current administration,” he added.
— CNBC’s Spencer Kimball contributed to this report.
On today’s episode of Quick Charge, President Trump has a wild first day in office, but it’s not ALL bad, either. Plus: Tesla gets diner integration, Hyundai keeps the deal train rolling, and it’s dad’s 80th birthday.
We also look ahead to some possible discounts for Tesla insurance customers, some news on the upcoming “cheap” Cybertruck, and wonder out loud if Puerto Rico’s billion dollar solar project is going to see the light of day. All this and more – enjoy!
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The Stripe logo on a smartphone with U.S. dollar banknotes in the background.
Budrul Chukrut | SOPA Images | LightRocket via Getty Images
Stripe cut 300 jobs, representing about 3.5% of its workforce, mostly in product, engineering and operations, CNBC has confirmed.
The payments company, valued at about $70 billion in the private markets, still expects to increase headcount by 10,000 by the end of the year, which would be a 17% increase, and is “not slowing down hiring,” according to a memo to staff from Chief People Office Rob McIntosh. Business Insider reported earlier on the cuts and the memo.
A Stripe spokesperson also confirmed to CNBC that a cartoon image of a duck with text that read, “US-Non-California Duck,” was accidentally attached as a PDF to emails sent to some of the employees who were laid off. Some of the emails mistakenly provided affected employees with an incorrect termination date, the spokesperson said.
McIntosh sent a follow-up email to staffers apologizing for the “notification error” and “any confusion it caused.”
“Corrected and full notifications have since been sent to all impacted Stripes,” he wrote.
In 2022, Stripe cut roughly 1,100 jobs, or 14% of its workers, downsizing alongside most of the tech industry, as soaring inflation and rising interest rates forced companies to focus on profits over growth. The Information reported that Stripe had a few dozen layoffs in its recruiting department in 2023.
Stripe’s valuation sank from a peak of $95 billion in 2021 to $50 billion in 2023, before reportedly rebounding to $70 billion last year as part of a secondary share sale. The company ranked third on last year’s CNBC Disruptor 50 list.
In October, Stripe agreed to pay $1.1 billion for crypto startup Bridge Network, whose technology is focused on making it easy for businesses to transact using digital currencies.
Brothers Patrick and John Collison, who founded Stripe in 2010, have intentionally steered clear of the public markets and have given no indication that an offering is on the near-term horizon. Total payment volume at the company surpassed $1 trillion in 2023.