A Waymo rider in San Francisco experienced an attempted break-in Sunday night when the driverless car stopped at a red light.
A man approached the vehicle and tried to open it, hitting the door handle, according to a video posted on Reddit. Unsuccessful, he knocks on the window to get the rider to open the door before brandishing what appears to be a knife, though a glare in the video obstructs the view of the object.
“I’m not sure it was a knife. Maybe it was a tool to break car windows,” says the rider.
Man holding what appears to be a knife (Credit: Reddit/SF_lovingit)
“The scariest part was that I felt a little helpless without a driver who could have stepped on the gas to get us out of the situation,” says the rider. “As soon as the light turned green, Waymo drove me home as usual.”
The shocked rider called Waymo to notify them of the incident. The company’s response was “very supportive” and included a check-in email the next morning and a phone call from a Waymo supervisor. They advised him to press an emergency button on the Waymo app next time, which would have triggered a 911 call, according to Waymo’s policy.
Several Redditors commented on the post with tips to “reach up and honk” to scare off the robber or press a button to honk in the Waymo app.
“I still think Waymo is great and will definitely continue to use their service,” says the rider.
Last month, another Waymo driver in San Francisco reported feeling unsafe when he was caught sitting inside the vehicle. Residents of the city have also been kept awake all night by the incessant sound of vehicles, though Waymo has since released a fix. School crossing guards have also complained about having to dodge Waymo vehicles, NBC Bay Area reports.
Autonomous ride-sharing services have been a controversial issue in the city since they were approved in August 2023, including backlash from fire departments and other first responders who worry that malfunctioning vehicles could block their way and endanger public safety.
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Waymo is live in San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles and has plans to expand to Austin and Atlanta next year. The Alphabet-owned service was valued at more than $45 billion this week, Bloomberg reports, following a recent $5.6 billion funding round.
The company is continuing to refine its technology, including experimenting with large language models made by Google (also owned by Alphabet), reports The Verge. “With every mile our autonomous vehicles drive, our AI models can learn and improve to make every trip safer and more reliable, meeting the high standards of our safety-critical domain,” Waymo says.
Tesla is seeking approval to operate its robotaxi service in California as early as next year.
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About Emily Dreibelbis Forlini
Senior reporter
