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Hidden Waymo feature let researcher customize robotaxi’s display

Security researcher Jane Wong found a hidden feature that let her change the top display of a Waymo robotaxi.

Jane Manchun Wong, a well-known security researcher, posted an image on X on Saturday showing the top display of a Waymo car — officially called “dome” — that included her X handle, and other strings of characters. Wong, who lives in San Francisco, told TechCrunch that she was able to customize the characters on the self-driving Jaguar I-Pace dome by fiddling with the Waymo mobile app on her Android phone as she waited for the robotaxi to show up. Despite her pleas, it appears Waymo updated the app to stop riders from customizing the dome like Wong did.

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