Waymo suspends robotaxi rides near LA protests
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Waymo said it had temporarily halted service in downtown Los Angeles after several of its cars were torched during protests.
Now electric, driverless vehicles have been summoned to protest scenes via the Waymo app. The resulting EV fires burn hotter than traditional car fires and are potentially more hazardous. The autonomous robot taxis owned by Google parent company Alphabet were tagged with protest slogans and profanity—and set on fire—as a way to disrupt traffic over the weekend and demonstrate against the widespread roundup of migrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
The self-driving taxi company also said its vehicles were in the wrong place at the wrong time in Los Angeles after protesters set fire to several of the cars there.
Waymo has suspended service of its ride-hailing service in downtown Los Angeles after its vehicles were set on fire during protests against immigration raids in the area.
As Los Angeles ICE protests escalated over the weekend, Waymo's self-driving vehicles took the brunt of the damage.
Driverless taxi company Waymo suspended service in downtown Los Angeles after at least five of its vehicles were set on fire during protests in the area.
In one photo, at least five Waymo robotaxis can be seen engulfed in flames, with anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement graffiti scrawled on the doors.
Protests that started Thursday in Southern California amid reports of ICE immigration sweeps endured through the weekend. Some were peaceful and focused. Others erupted into clashes with law
HOW WE GOT HERE: The protests erupted after Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on Friday carried out raids in three locations across L.A., where dozens of people were taken into custody. Newsom called the raids “chaotic federal sweeps” that aimed to fill an “arbitrary arrest quota.”