(Credit: ETIENNE LAURENT/AFP via Getty Images)
Amid protests in Los Angeles this weekend, several several Waymo robotaxis were set on fire.
As the LA Times reports, the protests are in response to the raids being carried out by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the city. During the demonstration, a group entered the area between Arcadia and Alameda streets around 5 p.m. PT and attacked five Waymo cars.
They slashed tires, broke windows, and defaced the cars with anti-ICE phrases. As some noted on social media, these self-driving cars are seen by some as symbols of job loss given that they replace human drivers, and the surveillance state, since police have secured footage from the cars in their investigations. (A Waymo car was also set on fire in San Francisco last year.)
It's unclear how many Waymo cars were torched, but a video shared on X shows at least three vehicles. So far, there have been no reports of any Waymo riders being injured in the incident.
When the cars caught fire, some people threw in Lime electric scooters to intensify it, the report adds. The LAPD then requested that people avoid the area as lithium-ion batteries could release toxic gases, such as hydrogen fluoride.
Waymo also halted its services in the area. "A number of Waymo vehicles are in the vicinity of active protests taking place in Downtown Los Angeles and are unable to be retrieved," a Waymo spokesperson told NBC Bay Area. "We will not be serving any rides in the protest area until it is deemed safe."
We have contacted Waymo for details on the scale of the damage and a timeline for service resumption in the affected area.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is preparing to launch a robotaxi service in Austin, condemned the incident. "This is not ok," he said in an X post, attaching an image of a rioter on top of a damaged Waymo robotaxi.
Waymo has been operating in Los Angeles since November; we tested it out last summer prior to the formal launch. According to Electrek, the Alphabet-owned company has 100 Jaguar I-Pace Waymo cars in its LA fleet.