San Franciscans’ fraught relationship with robotaxis continues. A vehicle from Waymo, the driverless car arm of Google parent company Alphabet, had a rough encounter in the city on Saturday evening. Some people who probably aren’t fans of the autonomous taxi service reportedly ended up setting it on fire.
The incident occurred in the Chinatown neighborhood and was caught on video and shared on social media. It didn’t appear to be premeditated, with the crowd surrounding the vehicle getting more riled up until they ended up breaking a window and throwing a firecracker inside, which caused the vehicle to catch fire.
Fortunately, no one was in the car at the time and no injuries were reported. Waymo is currently the only company operating driverless taxis in the city after General Motors’ permit for Cruise vehicles was suspended last year.
