No one was inside a Waymo car as it was destroyed.

A person jumped on the hood of a Waymo driverless taxi and smashed its windshield in San Francisco’s Chinatown last night around 9PM PT, generating applause before a crowd formed around the car and covered it in spray paint, breaking its windows, and ultimately set it on fire. The fire department arrived minutes later, according to a report in The Autopian, but by then flames had already fully engulfed the car.

At the moment, no outlets seem to have reported a motive for the attack. Waymo representative Sandy Karp told The Verge via email that the fully autonomous car “was not transporting any riders” when it was attacked and fireworks were tossed inside the car, sparking the flames. Public Information Officer Robert Rueca of San Francisco’s police department confirmed in an email to The Verge that police responded at “approximately” 8:50PM PT to find the car already on fire, adding that there were “no reports of injuries.”

A video posted by the FriscoLive415 YouTube channel shows the burnt-out husk of the electric Waymo Jaguar.

  • magnetosphere
    3•5 months ago

    At the moment, no outlets seem to have reported a motive for the attack.

    Okay…

    The California DMV suspended Waymo rival Cruise’s robotaxi operations after one of its cars struck and dragged a pedestrian last year, and prior to that, automated taxis had caused chaos in the city, blocking traffic or crashing into a fire truck. Just last week, a Waymo car struck a cyclist who had reportedly been following behind a truck turning across its path.

    Motive? Gee, I’m stumped.

    • @kfet@lemmy.ca
      5•5 months ago

      False.

      The pedestrian in that accident was struck by a human driver, hit and run, THEN they hit the Waymo, which did a pull-over maneuver. It did drag the victim (of the HUMAN) in error. It did not strike them at all.

      In fact the actual real issue was the C-suite trying to cover it up, intead of being upfront with the DMV. THAT’S what got Waymo in trouble. All fired now, as expected, the shitheads.

    • @lauha
      3•4 months ago

      I agree. Human driver car accidents happen every day and cas a ton of injuries. We really should ban all cars.