A furious crowd of drivers and pedestrians have torched a self-driving car in San Francisco using a firework in the latest attack on the vehicle technology.
Over the weekend, a crowd surrounded a white, electric SUV operated by Waymo that was driving in the Chinatown district of the Californian city.
According to eyewitnesses, people had fireworks on the street to celebrate China’s Lunar New Year, with some people taking advantage of the celebrations.
One person jumped on the bonnet of the autonomous vehicle and broke its windshield while others cheered and clapped, Reuters reported.
No one was injured in the attack and the vehicle was empty
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Other people with skateboards were breaking the glass while others vandalised the SUV with pray paint as the baying crowd cheered their actions.
Waymo, which is owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, stated that the fire was caused after someone threw a firework into an open window of the vehicle.
A statement from the company stated: “The vehicle was not transporting any riders and no injuries have been reported. We are working closely with local safety officials to respond to the situation.”
It described the attack as a “one-off event” and would continue to serve riders during the Chinese New Year festivities.
The fire is believed to have started after a firework was put inside the car
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The vehicle, an electric Jaguar I-PACE, was equipped with 29 cameras and other sensors, although pictures from the aftermath show the car destroyed.
Posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, the San Francisco Fire Department said the Waymo vehicle had been surrounded before having its windows broken, sprayed with graffiti and having a firework thrown inside.
The San Francisco Police Department said it was investigating the fire but failed to say whether anyone had been arrested for the incident.
There have been numerous incidents involving self-driving cars being targeted by the general public in response to their increased use in the Californian city and across the United States.
People have attempted to disrupt the operations of self-driving vehicles, blocking their path or even jumping on the bonnet of them.
Other driverless vehicle companies have been under scrutiny in recent months including General Motors’ Cruise division, which had its autonomous vehicle deployment and driverless testing permit by California's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
The fleet of Cruise driverless vehicles were deemed to be a “risk to the public” after accidents took place where pedestrians and cyclists were hit.
Cruise has been under the control of General Motors since 2016 operates across the United States and had more than 100 “robotaxis” in the San Francisco.
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Waymo described this as a 'one-off incident'
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The California DMV accused the company of having “misrepresented any information related to the safety of the autonomous technology of its vehicles.
In response to the announcement, Cruise said: "We will be pausing operations of our driverless AVs in San Francisco. Ultimately, we develop and deploy autonomous vehicles in an effort to save lives."
