Waymo is reviewing an incident in which a passenger says the vehicle she was in drove over a lit firework on July 4.
A video sent to KRON and KNTV shows a person setting off a firework in an intersection. As the firework explodes, someone in the video says, “Oh no, no, no, no,” as the autonomous vehicle drives over the explosive.
Smoke appears to come from under the car, and one person can be heard saying, “Are we on fire, dude?”
Rose Peterson told KNTV, “We were pulling up to a four-way stop, and this guy was shooting off a firework in the middle of the road, and then our Waymo starts driving, and we’re like ‘Wait, what’s happening?’”
No one was hurt in the incident, and the car was not damaged, the company said, according to CBS News.
Waymo told the San Francisco Chronicle that another vehicle drove over a small firework. That car was not occupied.
“An unoccupied vehicle drove over a small firework in the street and caught fire,” a Waymo spokesperson told the newspaper. “No one was in the vehicle and there are no injuries reported. We coordinated with the SF Fire Department and local authorities to safely remove the vehicle from the scene.”
Those were not the only issues the robo-taxi service experienced in San Francisco on Independence Day.
Several Waymo vehicles had to be towed from the streets after their batteries died as they were stuck in post-fireworks traffic.
“Major traffic disruptions, a high volume of travelers, and unplanned road closures contributed to unexpected congestion,” Waymo said in a statement, according to NBC News, adding that the company is “evaluating ways to strengthen Waymo’s resilience in major traffic disruptions.”
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