At least six Waymo self-traveling cars have been damaged by the violence in Los Angeles in the past few days Protests against the federal immigration attacksAccording to a representative for the company.
The autonomous vehicles and some electrical scooters from limes were destroyed and in some cases set on fire and completely destroyed. Videos of people who climbed onto the Waymo Robotaxis and were beaten up in the windshields, as well as in flames on Waymo cars that had been incorporated into flames, were largely divided online and quickly became key pictures of the protests in downtown Los Angeles.
The police authority in Los Angeles warned the people on Sunday to keep themselves away from the region because toxin exposure is on fire. All self -driving taxis used by Waymo alphabetare electrical. “Burning lithium-ion batteries fill poisonous gases free, including hydrogen fluoride, the risks for response and those nearby,” warned the department in a social media post.
No Waymo drivers or employees were injured during the incidents, and the passengers had left vehicles according to a Waymo spokesman before they were destroyed. The company stopped the service in the city center on Monday when the protests continued, although Waymo continued to operate in the Los Angeles region in Los Angeles.
“In view of the latest activities, we have removed vehicles from the city center of Los Angeles from a variety of caution and will not currently serve this special area of LA,” said a Waymo spokesman in a statement and found that the company was working with the police department and other authorities to assess the situation.
Tayfun Coskun – Small pictures
It is not clear whether the demonstrators decided to target the Waymo cars or the Lime Rollers, and it is possible that the vehicles and scooters were in an unfortunate place than the protests escalated.
The Los Angeles department referred all questions to Waymo and said that she did not know whether any incident reports were submitted at that time. Waymo refused to comment on the overall estimated damage and Lime refused to comment. Have analysts estimated The fact that the Waymo Jaguar I-Pace SUVs, which are equipped with radar and lidar devices, costs $ 150,000 and $ 200,000.
In San Francisco, where anti-Ice protests were also continued, according to the company, another isolated example of the fact that a Waymo was destroyed.
Caught in the crosshairs
Self -driving vehicles have regularly become the goal of Vandal, with cases of tires or people who throw fireworks into the vehicles. A man with a hatchet a few years ago persecuted Several self-driving cruise taxis around the streets of San Francisco merchant times when there were passengers.
President Donald Trump ordered the National Guard to intervene in Los Angeles on Saturday. Demonstrators collided with the police, garbage containers were destroyed, and the police from Los Angeles shared videos on the social media of a looted business.
The protests had calmed down by Monday, although a large group of demonstrators still marched in the city center.
Waymo who works In San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Austin plans and plans to start in Austin and Miami, is currently the only robotaxi company in the USA that offers commercial activities in various markets. Tesla Is Preparation for the start A robotaxi service in Austin this month, although the rollout is initially only very limited with only 10 to 20 vehicles. Waymo said she exceeded 10 million paid trips towards the end of May.
This story was originally on Fortune.com
