A Castro Valley resident was indicted Thursday on charges that he slashed the tires of 17 Waymo robotaxis in San Francisco between June 24 and June 26, according to the city's district attorney.
Prosecutors said the slashed tire was captured on a camera mounted outside a Waymo robotaxi, the latest in a string of Waymo vandalism incidents in the Bay Area where some residents have voiced concerns about autonomous vehicles.
San Francisco has a broader history of robotaxi backlash. In February, a crowd in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood set a Waymo vehicle on fire, causing another robotaxi vandalism. About a year ago, other robotaxi haters placed traffic cones on self-driving cars, a hack that disabled the vehicles.
This time, Waymo’s technology appears to have captured one of those alleged crimes on video. In an email to TechCrunch, Waymo said San Francisco police reviewed footage from the exterior cameras of Waymo vehicles to identify the suspect.
“We can confirm that charges have been filed against individuals who have aggressively damaged several Waymo vehicles, some of which had riders present,” Waymo spokeswoman Catherine Barna said in an email. “Waymo is also taking steps to repair the damages sustained and mitigate the potential for future incidents.”
Prosecutors allege the tire slashing incident in the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood is connected to another robotaxi slashing incident on city records, in which suspect Ronail Joshua Burton allegedly approached a caravan of three Waymo vehicles during the same time period and stabbed their tires.
“I would like to thank the San Francisco Police Department for their careful investigation into this incident,” he said. “Destroying someone else’s property is not something we can get away with in San Francisco,” San Francisco District Attorney Brooks Jenkins said in a news release. “People who destroy property must be held accountable for their actions.”
Button has pleaded not guilty to all 17 charges. The damage to each vehicle is estimated at more than $400. Prosecutors are holding the suspect without bail, citing “public safety risk,” and awaiting trial. Her court date is set for Friday, July 12.
Adam Burka-White, the deputy defense attorney representing Burton, said in a statement that his client needs help, not prison. He said in a broader statement that the defense attorney’s office will vigorously fight these charges, and also criticized the district attorney’s office for prioritizing punishing poor people at the behest of corporations.
Waymo says it carefully reviews all requests from law enforcement before providing vehicle footage. The company says it challenges, limits or rejects requests that lack a valid legal basis or are overly broad, and has done so in the past.
The San Francisco District Attorney's Office declined to comment further.
correction: The article originally misstated the suspects' residence. They live in Castro Valley. This article has also been updated with statements from Burton's attorneys and Deputy Defense Counsel Adam Birka-White. Make it clear The button uses the pronouns she/her.
