San Francisco residents are not always kind to each other. Waymo’s Growing Fleet of Driverless Taxis. Autonomous vehicles, providing tens of thousands of rides per week, have been burnt, trample onAnd be scolded in recent months. Now Waymo is fighting back—in court.
This month, the Silicon Valley company filed a lawsuit, both previously unreported, seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars from two alleged vandals. Waymo lawyers said in court papers that the alleged vandalism, which damaged dozens of tires and part of the rear end of the car, posed a significant threat to the company’s reputation. Riding in a car with a steering wheel that turns on its own can be scary enough. Having to worry about alleged attackers targeting rides could cripple Waymo’s ride-hailing business before it even gets out of the first phase.
Waymo, which is owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, operates a ride-hailing service in San Francisco, PhoenixAnd Los Angeles that is equivalent to Uber and Lyft except for the sensors and software that control the driving. Although their cars have not been involved in any known fatal crashes, U.S. regulators continue to investigate Sometimes erratic drivingWaymo spokeswoman Sandy Karp said the company has always prioritized safety and the lawsuits reflect that strategy. She declined to comment further for this story.
In a filing in the San Francisco County Superior Court of California last week, Waymo sued a Tesla Model 3 driver it accused of intentionally rear-ending one of its Jaguar self-driving cars. According to the lawsuit, the driver, Konstantine Nikka-Sher Piterman, said in an X post that “Waymo just hurt me” before going on to ask Tesla CEO Elon Musk for a job. Another lawsuit filed this month in the same court targeted Ronaile Burton, who is accused of slashing the tires of at least 19 Waymo vehicles. San Francisco prosecutors have filed criminal charges against her, to which she has pleaded not guilty. A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
Burton’s public defender, Adam Birka-White, said in a statement that Burton “is a person who needs help, not prison” and that prosecutors continue to “prioritize punishing poor people at the behest of corporations, in this case involving a technology company under federal investigation for creating dangerous conditions on our streets.”
Burton’s attorney in the civil case has not been named in court records, and Burton is currently in jail and could not be reached for comment. Piterman did not respond to voicemails, LinkedIn messages and emails seeking comment. He has not responded to the charges in court.
Based on available court records in San Francisco and Phoenix, it appears Waymo has never filed a similar lawsuit before.
In the Tesla case, Piterman “unlawfully, maliciously and willfully” drove through a stop sign and crashed into a Waymo vehicle in San Francisco. on March 19According to the company’s lawsuit, when Waymo attempted to stop, Piterman allegedly drove the Tesla into the Waymo vehicle again. He then allegedly entered the Waymo vehicle and then threatened a Waymo representative who responded to the scene. San Francisco police cited Piterman, according to the lawsuit. Police did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.
