A Castro Valley resident was charged Thursday for allegedly slashing the tires of 17 Waymo robotaxis in San Francisco between June 24 and June 26, in line with town’s district legal professional.
Prosecutors say the tire slashings have been captured by cameras put in on the outside of Waymo’s robotaxis. That is the most recent incident of Waymo vandalism within the Bay Space, the place some residents have expressed frustration with the autonomous autos.
San Francisco has a historical past of revolting towards robotaxis extra broadly. In February, a crowd of individuals within the metropolis’s Chinatown neighborhood dedicated one other act of robotaxi vandalism by setting a Waymo car on fireplace. Roughly a yr in the past, different robotaxi haters positioned visitors cones on high of autonomous autos, a hack that disabled the autos.
This time round, Waymo’s know-how appears to have caught one in all these alleged crimes on video. In an e mail to TechCrunch, Waymo mentioned the San Francisco Police Division reviewed footage from the Waymo autos’ exterior cameras in an effort to establish the suspect.
“We will affirm that fees have been introduced towards the person who aggressively vandalized quite a few Waymo autos, some with riders current,” mentioned Waymo spokesperson Katherine Barna in an e mail. “Waymo can be taking steps to get better the damages sustained, and mitigate the potential for future occasions.”
Prosecutors allege these tire slashings, which occurred within the metropolis’s Tenderloin neighborhood, are related to a different case of robotaxi vandalism within the metropolis’s recordsdata. In that case, the suspect Ronaile Joshua Burton is alleged to have approached a three-car caravan of Waymo autos and stabbed a knife into their tires throughout the identical time interval.
“I want to thank the San Francisco Police Division for his or her cautious investigation on this case,” mentioned San Francisco District Legal professional Brooke Jenkins in a press launch. “The destruction of different individuals’s property is not going to go unaddressed in San Francisco. Individuals who vandalize property should be held accountable for his or her actions.”
Burton has pled not responsible to all 17 fees. The injury to every car is estimated at greater than $400. Prosecutors positioned the suspect in custody with no bail whereas awaiting trial, citing the “public security threat” they pose. Her court docket date is about for Friday, July 12.
Deputy Public Defender Adam Birka-White, who’s representing Burton, mentioned in a press release that his shopper is in want of assist and never jail. The general public defender’s workplace intends to aggressively combat these fees, he mentioned in a broader assertion that additionally criticized the District Legal professional’s workplace for prioritizing the punishment poor individuals on the behest of firms.
Waymo says it rigorously evaluations any requests from legislation enforcement earlier than handing over its autos’ movies. The corporate says it challenges, limits or rejects requests that would not have a sound authorized foundation or are overbroad, and has completed so previously.
The San Francisco District Legal professional’s workplace declined to remark additional.
Correction: This story initially misstated the residence of the suspect. They reside in Castro Valley. The article has additionally been up to date with a press release from Burton’s legal professional, Deputy Public Defender Adam Birka-White and clarifies that Burton makes use of she/her pronouns.
