Founder and Managing Partner
The San Francisco Fire Department responded to a fire in Chinatown on Saturday night — one started by a group of people who set off fireworks inside of an (unoccupied) Waymo vehicle.
Authorities said that the group surrounded the car around 9 p.m. on Jackson Street, then broke its windows and graffitied it, before lighting the fireworks that caught the entire vehicle on fire.
Waymo Vehicle surrounded and then graffiti’d, windows were broken, and firework lit on fire inside the vehicle which ultimately caught the entire vehicle on fire. #SFFD
Photos by Séraphine Hossenlopp pic.twitter.com/aOTqL3Rk8V— SAN FRANCISCO FIRE DEPARTMENT MEDIA (@SFFDPIO) February 11, 2024
KNTV reporter Gia Vang posted videos on social media that show a group of about 10 people, a few of whom are using skateboards to hit the car. You can see the car ablaze in the middle of a crowded street. (Lunar New Year celebrations in Chinatown this weekend have drawn large crowds of tourists and residents alike.)
Waymo told KNTV that the car was not transporting any passengers at the time of the vandalism. No injuries were reported.
The San Francisco Police Department said that it was investigating the fire, but no arrests have been made yet.
Meanwhile, Waymo is reportedly trying to expand into the rest of the Bay Aea and into LA soon, according to the Standard.
Feature image via SFFD.