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, according to the city’s district attorney.
Prosecutors say the tire slashings were captured by cameras installed on the exterior of Waymo’s robotaxis. This is the latest incident of Waymo vandalism in the Bay Area, where some residents have expressed frustration with the autonomous vehicles.
San Francisco has a history of revolting against robotaxis more broadly. In February, a crowd of people in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood committed another act of robotaxi vandalism by setting a Waymo vehicle on fire. Roughly a year ago, other robotaxi haters placed traffic cones on top of autonomous vehicles, a hack that disabled the vehicles.
This time around, Waymo’s technology seems to have caught one of these alleged crimes on video. In an email to TechCrunch, Waymo said the San Francisco Police Department reviewed footage from the Waymo vehicles’ exterior cameras in order to identify the suspect.
“We can confirm that charges have been brought against the individual who aggressively vandalized a number of Waymo vehicles, some with riders present,” said Waymo spokesperson Katherine Barna in an email. “Waymo is also taking steps to recover the damages sustained, and mitigate the potential for future events.”
Prosecutors allege these tire slashings, which occurred in the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood, are connected to another case of robotaxi vandalism in the city’s files. In that case, the suspect Ronaile Joshua Burton is alleged to have approached a three-car caravan of Waymo vehicles and stabbed a knife into their tires during the same time period.
“I would like to thank the San Francisco Police Department for their careful investigation in this case,” said San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins in a press release. “The destruction of other people’s property will not go unaddressed in San Francisco. People who vandalize property must be held accountable for their actions.”
Burton has pled not guilty to all 17 charges. The damage to each vehicle is estimated at more than $400. Prosecutors placed the suspect in custody with no bail while awaiting trial, citing the “public safety risk” they pose. Her court date is set for Friday, July 12.
Deputy Public Defender Adam Birka-White, who is representing Burton, said in a statement that his client is in need of help and not jail. The public defender’s office intends to aggressively fight these charges, he said in a broader statement that also criticized the District Attorney’s office for prioritizing the punishment poor people at the behest of corporations.
Waymo says it carefully reviews any requests from law enforcement before handing over its vehicles’ videos. The company says it challenges, limits or rejects requests that do not have a valid legal basis or are overbroad, and has done so in the past.
The San Francisco District Attorney’s office declined to comment further.
Correction: This story originally misstated the residence of the suspect. They live in Castro Valley. The article has also been updated with a statement from Burton’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Adam Birka-White and clarifies that Burton uses she/her pronouns.
