After several Waymo autonomous cabs were set on fire during the protests in Los Angeles, the company has suspended its transportation services in the city centre of the US metropolis and announced restrictions there too ahead of expected demonstrations in San Francisco. This was reported by the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. Previously, at least five Waymo vehicles had been set on fire and destroyed during protests against the actions of the ICE police authority. However, the company assumes that the robotaxis were not deliberately attacked, “but that they were present by chance”, CBS News quotes a company spokesperson as saying.
Demonstrations largely peaceful
The attacks on the Waymo vehicles are a peripheral aspect of the escalating situation in Los Angeles over the weekend. It began with protests against ICE after the agency arrested dozens of people during raids in the metropolis. Their officers repeatedly took an extremely martial approach and targeted people who were allegedly immigrants. Although the demonstrations are largely peaceful according to the local police, US President Donald Trump has activated the National Guard and even ordered soldiers there on Monday. As a result, some protests escalated and Waymo cabs were also attacked.
Waymo’s autonomous cabs have only been in use in Los Angeles since last year, and one of the vehicles can be requested there around the clock since November. In San Francisco, 550 km to the north, on the other hand, the robotaxis have been on the road for much longer, and it has already become clear that not everyone there welcomes the driverless cars. In February 2024, an empty Waymo vehicle was damaged, smeared and ultimately set on fire by a crowd in the middle of a busy street. Even before that, people had repeatedly paralyzed individual vehicles with a traffic cone on the hood. This then had to be removed by hand.
(mho)
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This article was originally published in
German.
It was translated with technical assistance and editorially reviewed before publication.
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