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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteYes—the incident was real. On February 10, 2024, a crowd in San Francisco’s Chinatown vandalized an unoccupied Waymo robotaxi and set it on fire with a firework. Police classified the fire as arson, reported no injuries, and later identified a 14-year-old male suspect. The public police update did not say that everyone in the crowd was arrested, and it did not establish that a software failure caused the attack.
What happened to the Waymo car?
At about 8:50 p.m. on February 10, 2024, San Francisco police responded to a burning Waymo autonomous vehicle on the 700 block of Jackson Street in Chinatown. The area was crowded during Lunar New Year celebrations.
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According to contemporary reporting and a statement from Waymo, the vehicle had just completed a passenger drop-off and was unoccupied when people surrounded it. Members of the crowd vandalized the car, including breaking windows and damaging its exterior. A firework was placed or ignited inside the vehicle, which then caught fire and was destroyed.
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Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Firefighters extinguished the blaze. The San Francisco Police Department classified the fire as arson and said no injuries were reported.
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A confirmed timeline
- February 10, 2024: An unoccupied Waymo vehicle was operating autonomously in Chinatown during Lunar New Year festivities.
- About 8:50 p.m.: Police responded to the vehicle fire on Jackson Street.
- During the attack: A crowd surrounded and vandalized the vehicle. Contemporary reports described broken windows and a firework igniting inside it.
- Afterward: Firefighters put out the blaze, and police began an arson investigation.
- March 27, 2024: Investigators served a search warrant at a suspect’s residence at approximately 9:15 a.m. and seized evidence related to the vandalism.
- April 17, 2024: SFPD said investigators had identified a 14-year-old male suspect and that the District Attorney’s Office had filed charges. The department said the investigation remained open.
Was anyone inside the robotaxi?
No. SFPD described the vehicle as unoccupied, and Waymo said it had just dropped off a passenger. No injuries were reported. That means this was not a case of passengers being trapped inside a burning driverless car.
“Driverless” describes the vehicle’s operating mode: there was no human driver in the front seat controlling the car. It does not mean the vehicle was carrying passengers at the time of the fire.
Was the suspect arrested?
The careful answer is: the public SFPD update identified a suspect and described charges, but did not confirm that the teenager had been taken into custody.
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SFPD said the suspect was 14, that investigators searched his residence and seized evidence, and that the District Attorney’s Office had filed charges. The department also said the Juvenile Probation Department would determine whether the minor would be arrested or appear in court out of custody.
That is different from saying that the entire crowd was arrested or that the suspect had been convicted. A later San Francisco Fire Commission document referred less precisely to the people responsible as having been arrested. Because that wording is broader than the SFPD case update, it should not be used to claim that every participant was arrested.
Did the Waymo malfunction or drive into the crowd?
The available record does not establish that a software malfunction caused the attack. It also does not establish that the vehicle intentionally drove into pedestrians or triggered a riot.
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The vehicle was present in a densely crowded area during a major celebration, and reports described it being surrounded and attacked. But the official police account confirms the arson and later investigation—not a particular autonomous-driving error that caused the vehicle to stop or reach that precise location.
It is therefore inaccurate to present the incident as proof that Waymo’s driving system malfunctioned. It is equally inaccurate to treat the vandalism itself as evidence that autonomous vehicles are statistically more dangerous than human-driven cars.
Was this an anti-Waymo protest?
The attack happened amid an ongoing San Francisco debate about robotaxis, including concerns about traffic obstruction, interactions with emergency responders, regulation and public trust. That context helps explain why the incident received so much attention.
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However, the available sources do not establish a single motive for everyone in the crowd or prove that the event was an organized anti-Waymo protest. “Crowd vandalized and set the vehicle on fire” is supported; a specific political or technological motive is not.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Do not confuse the fire with Waymo’s software recall
Waymo announced a separate software recall in February 2024 involving two unusual incidents in Phoenix involving a vehicle being towed. That recall was not the Chinatown arson. The company’s recall statement describes the Phoenix issue, while the San Francisco event involved vandalism and a firework ignited inside an unoccupied vehicle.
Waymo also said at the time that its fleet had driven more than 10 million fully autonomous miles and completed more than 1 million ride-hail trips. Those were company-reported figures, not an independent audit, and they do not determine what caused the Chinatown incident.
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What happened to Waymo’s San Francisco service?
The fire did not end Waymo’s San Francisco operations. On June 25, 2024, Waymo announced that Waymo One was open to everyone in San Francisco.
That later service expansion is relevant context, but it does not erase the questions raised by the attack. Autonomous vehicles still have to operate safely around dense crowds, celebrations, fireworks and emergency responders. Those broader policy questions are separate from the narrower facts of this case.
What the incident does—and does not—show
| Confirmed or reasonably reported | Not established by the available record |
|---|---|
| A crowd vandalized an unoccupied Waymo vehicle. | That the vehicle malfunctioned. |
| A firework ignited inside it and the vehicle burned. | That the car caused the crowd to attack it. |
| Police classified the fire as arson. | That every person in the crowd was arrested. |
| No injuries were reported. | That the vehicle’s battery exploded. |
| SFPD identified a 14-year-old suspect and said charges had been filed. | That the suspect was convicted or definitively taken into custody. |
The most accurate summary is straightforward: during Lunar New Year festivities in San Francisco’s Chinatown on February 10, 2024, a crowd vandalized an unoccupied driverless Waymo vehicle, and a firework set it ablaze. Police investigated the incident as arson and later identified a juvenile suspect. The event documents vandalism directed at a robotaxi; by itself, it does not prove a vehicle software failure or settle the wider debate over autonomous-vehicle safety.
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