Crowd Sets Waymo Self-Driving Car on Fire: ‘It Was So Torched… They Couldn’t Even Recognize the Vehicle’

A Waymo self-driving car was vandalized and set on fire by a crowd in San Francisco on Saturday night. The car was navigating through Chinatown when it was surrounded by a crowd who defaced the vehicle and threw a firecracker inside it. The San Francisco Police Department reported no injuries and the cause of the fire is under investigation. This incident comes days after a Waymo car hit a bicyclist in San Francisco, and last October, a GM autonomous Cruise vehicle dragged a pedestrian, leading to the suspension of Cruise robotaxis in California.

Witnesses, including a former Amazon software engineer and a street reporter, described the crowd's shock and participation in the vandalism. The crowd dispersed after a firework was lit under the car, and the vehicle was left in flames. The reporter noted a negative attitude towards self-driving cars in the city, citing a previous incident where Cruise robotaxis caused a traffic jam. The incident is the worst case of vandalism on an autonomous vehicle he has seen.

Key takeaways

A Waymo self-driving car was vandalized and set on fire by a crowd in San Francisco's Chinatown on the night of the Lunar New Year.
No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is currently under investigation by the San Francisco Police Department.
The incident was witnessed and recorded by Michael Vandi, a former Amazon software engineer, who described the crowd's reaction and the escalation of the situation.
Franky Francisco, a street reporter, noted a negative attitude towards self-driving cars in the city, citing a previous incident where Cruise robotaxis caused a traffic jam.

Crowd Sets Waymo Self-Driving Car on Fire: ‘It Was So Torched… They Couldn’t Even Recognize the Vehicle’

Key takeaways

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