A crowd crashed and set fire to a Waymo unmanned cab in San Francisco. No one was in the car

In the Chinese quarter of San Francisco, a man jumped on the hood of the Waymo company's Jaguar autonomous taxi and smashed the windshield, prompting applause, after which the crowd sprayed the car with paint from spray cans, smashed the windows, and set it on fire. The fire department arrived a few minutes later, but by that time the flames had completely engulfed the car.

Waymo representative Sandy Carpenter told The Verge that the fully autonomous vehicle was not carrying anyone at that time, and the flame was caused by a fireworks thrown inside. Robert Rueca from the San Francisco Police Department confirmed that the police arrived at the call "around" 8:50 pm Pacific time and found that the car was already burning, adding that "there were no reports of injuries."

A video posted on the FriscoLive415 YouTube channel shows the extinguishing of the electric Jaguar Waymo and the aftermath.

Another series of videos gives an idea of how the scene unfolded and how the fire started.

happening NOW in SF. Waymo car vandalized & lit on fire 🤯@sfchroniclepic.twitter.com/OEZYFiy6mv

— Michael Vandi (@michael_vandi) February 11, 2024

The fire occurred against the backdrop of mounting tensions between San Francisco residents and operators of automated transportation vehicles. The California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended the operation of Waymo competitor Cruise taxis after one of the cars hit a pedestrian last year, and before that, automated taxis caused chaos in the city, blocking traffic for an ambulance or crashing into a fire engine. Last week, a Waymo vehicle hit a cyclist riding behind a truck that was turning across the road.

City authorities and residents opposed granting these vehicles a license for 24-hour operation last year, and some residents protested by immobilizing them, attaching orange cones to the car hoods.