VIDEO: Waymos stalled, confused as people climb, flip off from robotaxis in California

"We're teaching artificial intelligence that people are harmful, and that's not what we want."

SAN FRANCISCO -- A crowded and chaotic scene in California is raising new questions and concerns about autonomous vehicles and how people are interacting with them.

Video captured a man jumping off a Waymo car in San Francisco's Marina District as people in the crowd cheered him on. A few other men also climbed on top of the Waymo. At one point, three Waymos were all stalled, seemingly confused.

San Francisco police say officers responded just before 2 a.m. to reports of a Waymo being blocked by a large crowd of people and even sat on it. When officers arrived, they cleared the crowd to allow the Waymo to drive through.

Waymo confirmed to ABC San Francisco affiliate KGO that there was no one in the Waymo at the time and the car was not visibly damaged. The company added that vandalism to any property is condemned and that these events are taken seriously.

Selika Josiah Talbott, a transportation mobility policy expert and former federal advisor with decades of leadership shaping autonomous vehicle regulation, finds this sort of behavior shocking and horrifying.

"One of the things that is happening is here is we're teaching artificial intelligence that people are dangerous. We're teaching artificial intelligence that people are harmful, and that's not what we want," said Talbott. "It's also still dangerous. The vehicle is still traveling. The car can certainly crush you. The leaps that these kids were doing on top of that car, had it been their head hitting the ground. It's just incredibly dangerous and illegal and we've taken almost a blind eye."

Talbott points to the moment in the video where an officer is seen guiding the crowd.

"There was an officer that appeared and eventually sort of shooed everyone to the side so that the vehicle to begin to move," Talbott described. "Even the vehicle's hesitancy as it began to operate again was because of the intrusiveness of humans."

SFPD has not confirmed any arrests or citations. Talbott says law enforcement must take these incidents seriously.

"We need law enforcement to deal with the bad actors who are trying to, whether it's playing games or seriously trying to harm the technology, to curtail that behavior so that people can move safely throughout community," said Talbott. "It's a reason for law enforcement to handle these cases - frankly, very strictly, at least in the beginning to send a message."