Amidst Lunar New Year festivities in San Francisco, a Waymo self-driving car became the unfortunate target of vandalism and arson as a crowd surrounded, damaged, and set the vehicle ablaze while it traversed a street in the city's Chinatown district.
During Lunar New Year celebrations in San Francisco on Saturday, a Waymo self-driving car owned by Alphabet was vandalized and set on fire by a crowd, as reported by both the Alphabet-owned company and local authorities. This incident stands out as the most severe attack on autonomous vehicles in the United States thus far.
In the city's Chinatown district, the white SUV was encircled by a group of people. According to witness Michael Vandi, one person jumped onto the Waymo vehicle, breaking its windshield. Subsequently, another individual leaped onto the hood, receiving applause from some members of the crowd, as per a Reuters report.
Following the ignition of a firework inside the vehicle, images later revealed the engulfed Waymo self-driving car. The fire department confirmed the firework as the cause, sharing pictures of the charred vehicle on social media. Fortunately, the car had no passengers, and there were no reported injuries.
The San Francisco Police Department is currently investigating the incident's origin. This event underscores a growing public hostility towards self-driving cars, intensified by a previous incident involving a pedestrian-dragging accident with a General Motors' Cruise unit vehicle last year. Similar disturbances have occurred in the past in San Francisco and Phoenix, Arizona, involving groups expressing discontent with autonomous vehicles.
In a separate incident just last week, a driverless Waymo car was involved in a collision with a cyclist in San Francisco, resulting in minor injuries. Waymo operates an autonomous ride-hailing service in Phoenix and is actively pursuing expansion to Los Angeles and Austin, Texas.
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