A crowd vandalized and set hearth to a Waymo self-driving automobile utilizing a firework in San Francisco on Saturday, the Alphabet-owned firm and authorities mentioned, marking essentially the most damaging assault up to now on driverless automobiles within the U.S.
On Saturday evening, a crowd surrounded a white sport utility car that was transferring alongside a road within the metropolis’s Chinatown district, an organization spokesperson mentioned.
Michael Vandi, a witness who posted movies of the incident, informed Reuters that folks had been celebrating China’s Lunar New Yr by setting off fireworks. An individual jumped onto the hood of the Waymo car and broke its windshield. One other individual additionally jumped on the hood 30 seconds later as some within the crowd clapped in approval, he informed Reuters in an X direct message.
“That was when it went WILD,” he wrote, describing individuals with skateboards breaking the glass and others graffitiing the automobile. “There have been 2 teams of individuals. People who encourage it – and others who had been simply shocked & began filming. Nobody stood up – i imply there wasn’t something you can do to face as much as dozens of individuals.”
His video confirmed the car engulfed in flames with an enormous plume of black smoke.
Waymo mentioned somebody threw a firework inside, which set the car on hearth. The hearth division posted footage on social media of the charred stays of the automobile and mentioned a firework began the blaze.
“The car was not transporting any riders and no accidents have been reported. We’re working carefully with native security officers to answer the state of affairs,” the corporate mentioned. It didn’t say what triggered the assault.
The San Francisco Police Division mentioned it was investigating the reason for the fireplace and didn’t say whether or not arrests have been made. The electrical automobile, a Jaguar I-PACE, is provided with 29 cameras and different sensors.
The most recent incident got here a day earlier than the Tremendous Bowl NFL championship involving the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs.
“This was a one-off occasion,” the Waymo spokesperson informed Reuters, including it should “proceed serving riders throughout right this moment’s festivities.”
The incident was not the primary time individuals have harassed self-driving vehicles, however its severity might illustrate rising public hostility following a pedestrian-dragging accident final 12 months involving a car operated by Normal Motors’ Cruise unit.
On earlier events in San Francisco and Phoenix, Arizona, teams have disrupted the operations of self-driving automobiles, blocking their path, making an attempt to enter the automobiles and leaping on their hoods. Movies that went viral confirmed individuals placing orange visitors cones on high of the automobiles to hinder their sensors and power them to cease abruptly.
Final week, a driverless Waymo automobile collided with a bicycle owner in San Francisco, inflicting minor accidents. The incident is being reviewed by the state’s auto regulator.
Waymo affords driverless ride-hailing service in Phoenix and is working to increase the service to Los Angeles and Austin, Texas.
On Oct. 2, 2023, a pedestrian hit by one other car was thrown into the trail of a self-driving Cruise car and dragged 20 toes (6 meters). California subsequently suspended the corporate’s driverless testing license, and Cruise pulled all its U.S. self-driving automobiles from testing.
Utterly driverless take a look at automobiles, largely from Cruise and Waymo fleets, traveled practically 3.3 million miles (5.3 million km) in California final 12 months.
(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Abhirup Roy in San Francisco and Mariana Sandoval in Mexico Metropolis; Modifying by Lisa Shumaker and Paul Simao)
(This story has been refiled to right Twitter to X in paragraph 3)
