New ‘KnoWay’ robotaxis cause chaos in upcoming Grand Theft Auto Online DLC

The latest expansion to Grand Theft Auto Online includes robotaxis from a fictional-yet-familiar company dubbed “KnoWay,” whose sole purpose appears to be wreaking havoc.

A trailer released Friday shows KnoWay vans adorned with lidar sensors swerving through city streets, wrecking other cars, and crashing through a billboard for the made up company.

While that’s all far more chaotic and destructive than even some of the worst behavior that Waymo’s robotaxis have been guilty of, the in-game autonomous vehicles nonetheless resemble the company’s earlier-generation Chrysler Pacifica vans. The expansion is called “A Safehouse in the Hills” and is available starting December 10.

It’s not clear if the vans in the trailer have been, in true Grand Theft Auto fashion, hijacked by playable characters, or if they’ve gone rogue. It seems likely it’s the latter, though, as Rockstar Games says players will be encouraged to “stop the development of a mass surveillance network in an all-new action packed adventure” as part of the DLC. (The trailer also teases a storyline that involves an AI assistant named “Haviland,” so the tech world in general appears to be a part of this particular storyline.)

Waymo has said it will deny government requests for the footage its vehicles capture if those requests are “overly broad and unlawful.” But its robotaxis have nevertheless drawn criticism for being part of a growing surveillance state. That frustration has contributed to the company’s vehicles becoming a target of multiple instances of vandalism. Waymo SUVs have been burned, smashed, and had their tires slashed in different cities over the last few years.

Rockstar is clearly tapping into those same dynamics here, as the tagline for KnoWay’s “autonomous hailing system” in the game is: “We Kno where you’re going.” It’s not hard to imagine some players of the DLC taking some of their frustrations out on the virtual vehicles once the update is released later this month.

Waymo declined to comment.

At TechCrunch Disrupt in October, Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana spoke out against the vandalism, saying her company was “very focused on working with law enforcement to make sure that we pursue the people who are committing these crimes against our fleet.”