San Francisco Crowd Torches Waymo Taxi

Californians seem to have just about had it with self-driving cars. If it’s not government probes into their activities on the roads, it’s locals popping traffic cones on their hoods to stop them in their tracks. Now, the anti-autonomous car movement has stepped up a notch and set fire to a Waymo cab in San Francisco.

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According to a report from CNBC News, crowds in the Bay Area decided enough was enough and set a Waymo cab ablaze this weekend. CNBC reports that a window on the Waymo car was smashed and a firework was thrown inside, sending the car up in smoke. According to to CNBC:

Waymo said that around 9 p.m. local time on Saturday (0500 GMT Sunday), someone in a crowd broke a car window and threw a firework inside, setting the vehicle ablaze. Waymo did not say what caused the crowd to attack the car.

Video footage on social media showed the electric vehicle burning, sending up a huge plume of black smoke.

“The vehicle was not transporting any riders and no injuries have been reported. We are working closely with local safety officials to respond to the situation,” the company said.

It’s not yet known what sparked the attack on the Waymo self driving cab and fire officers in the area have now passed the case onto the local police force who will presumably try and get to the bottom of it.

The blaze comes at a time of increased tensions between residents and tech companies. Photo: JASON HENRY/AFP (Getty Images)

According to an eye-witness that Reuters spoke with, the incident happened while revelers were celebrating the Lunar New Year in the city center. One person the site spoke with explained that people were setting off fireworks to mark the occasion, but things soon “went wild.” According to Reuters:

Michael Vandi, a witness who posted videos of the incident, told Reuters that people were celebrating China’s Lunar New Year by setting off fireworks. A person jumped onto the hood of the Waymo vehicle and broke its windshield. Another person also jumped on the hood 30 seconds later as some in the crowd clapped in approval, he told Reuters in an X direct message.

“That was when it went WILD,” he wrote, describing people with skateboards breaking the glass and others graffitiing the car. “There were 2 groups of people. Folks who encourage it – and others who were just shocked & started filming. No one stood up – i mean there wasn’t anything you could do to stand up to dozens of people.”

Thankfully, the vehicle was not transporting any passengers at the time of the blaze, and Waymo is no longer required to have a safety driver in each of its vehicles. As such, the company says there were no reported injuries following the fire.

While identifying the cause of the fire is now in the hands of local police officers, it’s clear that the blaze has come at a time of heightened tensions between self-driving taxi firms and San Francisco residents.

The attack comes less than a week after a Waymo car hit a cyclist in the city and follows months of backlash against self-driving cars that was sparked when a Cruise autonomous cab hit a pedestrian who was thrown into its path by another vehicle.