Short film “Road Rage” portrays robotaxi as villain in AI‑focused narrative

A new short film titled **“Road Rage”** is seeking $40,000 on Kickstarter to fund its production. The project, described as a blend of *Bullitt*, *Christine*, and Waymo, imagines a high‑speed chase through San Francisco in which the opposing driver is an autonomous robotaxi that may be intent on killing the protagonist, a character named Joa. The film’s promotional materials emphasize the vehicle’s role as a villain with minimal exposition, positioning the story within contemporary concerns about artificial intelligence and driverless technology.

The Kickstarter campaign frames the film as a commentary on the rapid integration of autonomous cars into U.S. cities, where they have become symbols of broader anxieties such as AI‑driven job displacement, corporate surveillance, and the delegation of life‑critical decisions to machines. By casting a robotaxi as an antagonistic force, “Road Rage” taps into these cultural narratives while offering a genre‑bending thriller. The campaign’s success will determine whether the production proceeds, adding another media portrayal to the evolving discourse on autonomous vehicle technology.