Waymo driverless car set ablaze in San Francisco: 'Putting out some rage'

A group of people set a driverless car on fire over the weekend in the city's Chinatown neighborhood, according to reports.

The autonomous driving technology company Waymo reported someone in a crowd surrounded one of its robotaxis on Saturday about 9 p.m. Pacific Time, broke one of its windows and threw a firework inside causing the vehicle to catch fire, NBC reported.

The company, a subsidiary of tech company Alphabet, the parent company of Google, did not tell the outlet why people vandalized the car.

The San Francisco Police Department, reportedly investigating the crime, and Waymo, could not immediatly be reached by USA TODAY.

Around the time it was vandalized, the car was surrounded by about a dozen people, San Francisco Fire Department Lt. Mariano Elias told Bay City News.

Witness accounts from the scene

Witnesses reported on X the melee took place as fireworks were being set off for Lunar New Year, and the driverless car got stuck in front of another vehicle in the area.

Video from the scene circulating on X shows the white car vandalized with its windows broken and shows an unidentified person put fireworks inside the car and it catch fire.

"They were putting out some rage for really no reason at all. They just wanted to vandalize something, and they did," witness Edwin Carungay told KGO-TV.

The witness told the outlet the Waymo was vandalized and set on fire by a big group of people.

"One young man jumped on the hood, and on the windshield.," Carungay told KGO. "That kind of started the whole melee."

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.