Passengers inside a Waymo autonomous vehicle experienced a frightening incident on July 4th when the driverless car drove directly into a fireworks display on a San Francisco street. Video footage captured the moments of alarm as the vehicle approached the lit fireworks, with one passenger heard exclaiming, "No, no, no, don’t go, don’t go, don’t go." The car then proceeded over the active pyrotechnics. Another passenger questioned, "Are we on fire, dude?"
A Waymo spokesperson stated that the company "is committed to keeping our riders safe and earning the trust of the communities where we operate." The company added that it "take[s] situations like this seriously and are committed to evaluating and learning from these events." No injuries were reported to passengers or the vehicle. Waymo reportedly reached out to the riders following the trip.
The possession of fireworks, including those labeled "Safe and Sane," is illegal in San Francisco, according to the city's fire department. In a separate incident on the same holiday weekend, one person died and three others were injured in a fireworks explosion elsewhere in the city.
This fireworks incident occurred amidst other operational challenges for Waymo vehicles in San Francisco. On the same Fourth of July weekend, some Waymo cars experienced battery failures and became stuck in traffic congestion for hours, particularly in northern San Francisco. The company coordinated with local authorities and emergency services to clear the vehicles from the affected areas, citing "extreme traffic congestion" as the cause.
