A Castro Valley resident was charged Thursday for allegedly slashing the tires of 17 Waymo robotaxis in San Francisco between June 24 and June 26, in response to the town’s district lawyer.
Prosecutors say the tire slashings had been captured by cameras put in on the outside of Waymo’s robotaxis. This is the most recent incident of Waymo vandalism in the Bay Area, the place some residents have expressed frustration with the autonomous automobiles.
San Francisco has a historical past for revolting towards robotaxis extra broadly. In February, a crowd of folks in the town’s Chinatown neighborhood dedicated one other act of robotaxi vandalism by setting a Waymo on fireplace. Roughly a 12 months in the past, different robotaxi haters positioned site visitors cones on high of autonomous automobiles, a hack that disabled the automobiles.
This time round, Waymo’s expertise appears to have caught one of these alleged crimes on video. In an e mail to TechCrunch, Waymo mentioned the San Francisco Police Department reviewed footage from its automobiles’ exterior cameras in order to establish the suspect.
“We can verify that prices have been introduced towards the person who aggressively vandalized a quantity of Waymo automobiles, some with riders current,” mentioned Waymo spokesperson Katherine Barna in an e mail. “Waymo can be taking steps to recuperate the damages sustained, and mitigate the potential for future occasions.”
Prosecutors allege these tire slashings, which occurred in the town’s Tenderloin neighborhood, are related to a different case of robotaxi vandalism in the town’s information. In that case, the identical suspect is alleged to have approached a three-car caravan of Waymo automobiles and stabbed a knife into their tires throughout the identical time interval.
“I wish to thank the San Francisco Police Department for his or her cautious investigation in this case,” mentioned San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins in a press launch. “The destruction of different folks’s property won’t go unaddressed in San Francisco. People who vandalize property have to be held accountable for his or her actions.”
The suspect has pled not responsible to all 17 prices. The harm to every car is estimated at greater than $400. Prosecutors positioned the suspect in custody with no bail whereas awaiting trial, citing the “public security threat” they pose. Their courtroom date is about for Friday, July 12.
Waymo says it rigorously opinions any requests from regulation enforcement earlier than handing over its automobiles’ movies. The firm says it challenges, limits or rejects requests that would not have a sound authorized foundation or are overbroad, and has achieved so in the previous.
The San Francisco District Attorney’s workplace declined to remark additional.
This story initially misstated the residence of the suspect. They reside in Castro Valley.
