© Reuters. A Waymo self-driving robotaxi, owned by Alphabet's self-driving unit, is engulfed in flames after the San Francisco Fire Department said in a statement on social media that fireworks were thrown into the vehicle, in San Francisco, California, February.
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By Hyunjoo Jin, Mariana Sandoval and Abhirup Roy
(Reuters) -A crowd vandalized and set fire to a Waymo self-driving car using fireworks in San Francisco on Saturday, the Alphabet-owned company and authorities said, marking the most destructive attack yet on driverless vehicles in the U.S. USA
On Saturday night, a crowd surrounded a white sport utility vehicle traveling on a street in the city's Chinatown district, a company spokesman said.
Michael Vandi, a witness who posted videos of the incident, told Reuters that people were celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year by setting off fireworks. A person jumped on 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 applauded in approval, he told Reuters in a direct message on Twitter.
“That's when everything got WILD,” he wrote, describing people with skateboards breaking the glass and others doing graffiti on the car. “There were two groups of people. People who were cheering him on, and others who were just shocked and started filming. Nobody stood up; I mean, there was nothing you could do to face dozens of people.”
His video showed the vehicle engulfed in flames with a huge plume of black smoke.
Waymo said someone threw fireworks inside, which set the vehicle on fire. The fire department posted photos on social media of the charred remains of the car and said a firework started the fire.
“The vehicle was not carrying any passengers and no injuries have been reported. We are working closely with local safety officials to respond to the situation,” the company said. He did not say what caused the attack.
The San Francisco Police Department said it was investigating the cause of the fire and did not say whether any arrests had been made. The electric car, a Jaguar I-PACE, is equipped with 29 cameras and other sensors.
The latest incident occurred a day before the NFL Super Bowl championship involving the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs.
“This was a one-time event,” Waymo's spokesperson told Reuters, adding that it “will continue to serve riders during today's festivities.”
The incident was not the first time people harassed autonomous vehicles, but its severity may illustrate growing public hostility following a pedestrian accident last year involving a vehicle operated by General Motors' (NYSE: ).
On previous occasions in San Francisco and Phoenix, Arizona, groups have disrupted the operations of autonomous vehicles, blocking their path, attempting to enter the vehicles and jumping on their hoods. Videos that went viral showed people placing orange traffic cones on top of vehicles to clog their sensors and force them to stop abruptly.
Last week, a self-driving Waymo car collided with a cyclist in San Francisco, causing minor injuries. The incident is being reviewed by the state's automotive regulator.
Waymo offers driverless transportation service in Phoenix and is working to expand service to Los Angeles and Austin, Texas.
On October 2, 2023, a pedestrian struck by another vehicle was thrown into the path of an autonomous Cruise vehicle and dragged 20 feet (6 meters). California subsequently suspended the company's driverless testing license and Cruise withdrew all of its autonomous vehicles from testing in the United States.
Fully autonomous test vehicles, mostly from Cruise and Waymo fleets, traveled nearly 3.3 million miles (5.3 million kilometers) in California last year.
