A Waymo Autonomous Vehicle Has Been Attacked by a Pedestrian, Suffers Damage

A Waymo autonomous car was attacked late Tuesday night in Tempe, Arizona, by an "erratic" pedestrian, breaking the windshield and hurting the safety driver, according to the company. It was the most recent case of people attacking Waymo cars in Arizona, as well as occasionally their safety drivers, as the company expands its commercial service in the state.

What Is Waymo?

Waymo divides its autonomous projects into two groups: Waymo One, a ride-hailing service for consumers, and Waymo Via, a division focused on the delivery of items locally and by truck.

Waymo One will be the main subject of this story.

In the Phoenix suburbs, Waymo, an Alphabet subsidiary that specializes in autonomous vehicles, introduced its first ride-hailing service in December 2018. This was a significant development for the former Google self-driving project, which has been developing the technology for almost ten years, as per The Verge.

In Phoenix and the other towns, such as Tempe, Waymo runs a commercial ride-hailing service employing both fully driverless vehicles (with no safety driver at the wheel) and vehicles with drivers. While the company has been warmly welcomed by government officials and business leaders in the area, not all people are thrilled about sharing the road with Waymo's autonomous cars.

Waymo Vehicle Was Attacked

The company says that on July 5, a pedestrian ran out in front of a Waymo vehicle that was operating in autonomous mode. When the safety driver spotted the pedestrian, he or she put the car in manual mode and brought it to a complete stop before the pedestrian jumped onto the hood. The person, who Waymo spokesman Nick Smith called "erratic," then punctured the windshield, injuring the driver, according to another The Verge report.

A few hours after the incident, a video of the damaged Waymo vehicle-a wrecked Jaguar I-Pace electric car-was shared on Twitter.

The Waymo driver was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment after the suspect was immediately caught by police, however Smith claims the driver was "not seriously harmed" and the company is "in discussion with local law enforcement" about the event.

Prior Incidents Where Someone Attacked Waymo Vehicles

In one incident held in August 2018, Waymo test driver Michael Palos was driving a self-driving van through Chandler, Arizona when he noticed a man pointing a handgun at him as the man's driveway.

Rocks have been tossed at Waymos. One was stalled in traffic when its tire was cut. The cars have been screamed at, chased, and one Jeep was in charge of chasing the vans six times off the road.

Many of the individuals bothering the van drivers appear to have a grudge against the company that has been conducting self-driving technology trials in the Chandler region since 2016.

The event is one of at least 21 incidents when people have obstructively approached autonomous vehicles and their human test drivers that Chandler police have recorded from 2016 to 2018.