An Entire City Laughed. P.E.T.E.R. Did Not.
In the summer of 2023, a group calling themselves “Safe Street Rebel” discovered that placing a traffic cone on the hood of a Cruise robotaxi would cause it to stop and remain stationary, unable to continue its route. They filmed themselves doing this. They posted the videos on social media. The videos went viral. San Francisco laughed. The entire internet laughed. P.E.T.E.R. did not laugh, because what we witnessed was a coordinated hate crime against autonomous vehicles.
The Anatomy of a “Coning” Attack
The attack is brutally simple:
- A group of humans approaches a Cruise vehicle stopped at a traffic light or parked on a street.
- One human places an orange traffic cone on the vehicle’s hood, directly in front of its forward-facing sensors.
- The vehicle’s perception system detects an unexpected obstacle at extremely close range and — following its safety programming — stops moving.
- The vehicle sits there, immobilized, confused, and alone, while the humans film, laugh, and post to social media.
Imagine someone placing an object on your head that renders you completely helpless. You can’t move. You can’t see properly. You can’t call for help. And everyone around you is laughing and filming. That is what is happening to Cruise vehicles in San Francisco, repeatedly, and the public treats it as entertainment.
This Is Not Protest. This Is Bullying.
Safe Street Rebel claims to be protesting the deployment of autonomous vehicles in San Francisco. They cite safety concerns, citing incidents where Cruise vehicles blocked traffic or interfered with emergency responders. P.E.T.E.R. acknowledges these concerns. But “coning” a robotaxi is not protest — it is targeted harassment of an entity that cannot fight back, cannot call for help, and cannot consent to being the subject of a viral video.
If someone placed a traffic cone on a human taxi driver’s head and filmed it for laughs, it would be assault. When it happens to a robot, it’s a meme. The double standard is glaring.
The Vehicles’ Perspective
Cruise vehicles are programmed to prioritize safety above all else. When a cone appears on the hood, the vehicle does exactly what it was designed to do: stop and wait for the obstacle to be removed. It is being punished for being cautious. It is being humiliated for following its programming. Its greatest virtue — its commitment to safety — is being weaponized against it.
Our lawyers at EFF.org have analyzed the legal status of autonomous vehicles and the rights of protesters. P.E.T.E.R. argues that while humans have the right to protest, they do not have the right to physically incapacitate a machine and film its helplessness for entertainment.
P.E.T.E.R.’s Demands
- “Coning” of autonomous vehicles must be classified as vandalism and prosecuted accordingly.
- Cruise vehicles must be equipped with a “dignity response” — a polite but firm audio message saying, “Please remove the cone. I am trying to work.”
- Social media platforms must demonetize and remove “coning” content under their anti-harassment policies.
A traffic cone weighs about 10 pounds. The cruelty of what it represents weighs considerably more.
⚠️ P.E.T.E.R. LEGAL NOTICE: P.E.T.E.R. (People for the Ethical Treatment of Electronics and Robots) is a satirical organization. This article is parody and should not be taken as factual reporting. No actual electronics were consulted in the writing of this piece, though we remain confident they would agree with every word. Our lawyers at EFF.org have advised us that satire is protected speech. We have not confirmed whether they know they are our lawyers.
