Tech Crosswalks Go Rogue: Silicon Valley Pedestrian Signals Hacked with Mock Messages

Authorities in Northern California are looking into a series of hacked pedestrian crossings that played humorous messages from impersonators of tech moguls Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. The incidents occurred in cities like Palo Alto and Redwood City, leading to the disabling of audio features.

Pedestrian crossings in several areas of Northern California have recently become the center of attention as hackers took control of the signals, leading them to broadcast jesting messages that impersonated tech billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Local authorities are actively investigating the incidents, which occurred in cities such as Palo Alto, Redwood City, and Menlo Park, the latter being the site of Zuckerberg's Meta headquarters.

Officials from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) confirmed that these unexpected announcements were first reported over the weekend and involved a humorous impersonation of Musk promising pedestrians a Tesla Cybertruck if they would befriend him. A message purportedly from Zuckerberg humorously claimed, "real ones call me The Zuck."

As investigations continue, Caltrans engineers have already disabled the audio feature of the affected crossings. Pedro Quintana, a spokesperson for Caltrans, reported that approximately ten pedestrian crossings in the Palo Alto and Menlo Park areas were compromised. Currently, these crossings operate on a timer system, while the buttons responsible for the fake audio have been deactivated.

The peculiar messages dominated social media platforms, with one in Musk's voice greeting pedestrians and joking about the futility of purchasing happiness, while a fabricated message from Zuckerberg discussed integrating AI into “every facet of your conscious experience.”

Neither Musk nor Zuckerberg has publicly commented on the breach. Palo Alto officials noted that approximately twelve crossings in the downtown area had been manipulated, with findings indicating that the tampering likely took place on Friday. Meghan Horrigan-Taylor, a spokesperson for Palo Alto, mentioned that the issue was first flagged by a city employee who noticed irregularities in the audio functionality.

In response to the incident, the audible features at the affected crossings have been disabled until repairs can be conducted, and other traffic signals in the vicinity have been assessed as unaffected. Local outlets have also reported similar audio hijinks from pedestrian crossings in Redwood City, evident that the prank has captivated the tech-centric region of Silicon Valley.