Waymo had a really bad 4th of July.
Three incidents involving failures of the ubiquitous, Alphabet-backed autonomous taxis went viral over the weekend, sparking criticism of the company’s operational lapses and the car’s seeming inability to make adjustments during complex traffic situations.
Waymos were a key reason for the traffic snarl in the Presidio after Saturday night’s foggy fireworks display on the Golden Gate Bridge. Videos and social media posts from people stuck in traffic show Waymos locked in giant lines, randomly blocking the road, and stuck in a roundabout.
A number of Waymos had to be towed after they lost battery power; the vehicles that could hold a charge made errors on the road that backed traffic up for blocks, bystanders said.
Fellow drivers acted like, well, drivers. “We realized people were getting out of their cars, yelling and screaming at these Waymos because there were no drivers,” Dave Guingona, who was stuck in Presidio traffic for two hours, told NBC News.
One of the victim was Latinos for Trump co-founder Marco Gutierrez, who went on X to muse, “This is the future of transportation? WTH, @CAGovernor?”
In a statement to Gazetteer SF, Waymo noted that unplanned road closures contributed to the congestion and that the company worked with the San Francisco Emergency Operations Center closely in order to resolve problems.
“In coordination with local authorities and emergency services, our roadside assistance team worked quickly to clear our vehicles from the area. Our team is always evaluating ways to strengthen Waymo's resilience in major traffic disruptions,” Waymo spokesperson Chris Bonelli said.
In North Beach, meanwhile, one Waymo drove into an intersection despite a large lit firework sitting in the middle of the road. Video taken inside the car by passenger Rose Peterson shows the firework’s sparks flashing all around them as the Waymo takes a lazy left turn. A second angle shows Peterson’s Waymo tip the firework over, which then shoots projectiles at cars, homes, and bystanders on the sidewalk.
Waymo told Gazetteer that there were no reported injuries or damage to the vehicle Peterson was riding in, and that it reached out to Peterson to confirm their well-being.
A second Waymo that encountered a firework was a different story, though: A vehicle that drove into a firework near the 1200 block of Connecticut Street in Potrero caught on fire, Waymo said. The Waymo was unoccupied and there were no injuries; the vehicle had to be removed by the San Francisco Fire Department and other city authorities, according to Bonelli.
These incidents raise serious concerns about autonomous vehicles, especially those operating during unusual traffic patterns that may require real decision-making by drivers. “Human drivers don’t just drive. They are the captain of the ship and anything that can happen to it,” AV expert Phil Koopman told Gazetteer in 2024. “Well, if you put a computer in charge and it’s not capable of doing anything other than navigating traffic, who’s the real captain of the ship?”
The office of San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins did not respond by press time to Gazetteer’s questions about legal mechanisms that might hold Waymo accountable when its operational failures, including parking and moving violations, lead to blocked roads and other forms of extended congestion. Jenkins recently attempted to prosecute seven members of the so-called “Golden Gate 26” who blocked the bridge in 2024 during a protest and were charged with felonies for false imprisonment (for keeping people stuck in traffic) and obstructing a thoroughfare.
Meanwhile, Mayor Daniel Lurie, who has been a major ally for Waymo in its San Francisco expansion, did not mention the company in his statement regarding the July 4 pileups.
“We understand that with more than 100,000 people in the area, some people experienced delays getting home, and we will have conversations with our public and private partners to ensure the experience is smoother next time,” Lurie's office said in a statement on Saturday evening.
That’s probably a relief to drivers, but for Waymos, it probably does not compute.
Editor’s note: The source of the lead image was misattributed, and has been corrected. The story has also been updated to correct the neighborhood of the Waymo driving over the firework. It was North Beach, not the Mission.
