San Francisco residents haven’t always been kind to Waymo’s growing fleet of driverless taxis. The autonomous vehicles, which provide tens of thousands of rides a week, have been set on fire, he stepped onAND verbally scolded in recent months. Now Waymo is striking back — in the courts.
This month, the Silicon Valley company filed two lawsuits, neither of which had been previously filed, seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages from two alleged vandals. Waymo’s attorneys said in court papers that the alleged vandalism, which destroyed dozens of tires and a rear section, poses a significant risk to the company’s reputation. Driving a vehicle whose steering wheel turns by itself can be terrifying enough. Having to worry about attackers allegedly targeting rides could undermine Waymo’s ride-hailing business before it even gets past the earliest stages.
Waymo, which is owned by Google parent Alphabet, operates a ride-hailing service in San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles that is comparable to Uber and Lyft, except for the sensors and software that controls the rides. Although the company’s cars have not been involved in any known fatal crashes, U.S. regulators are still investigating their sometimes erratic driving. Waymo spokeswoman Sandy Karp says the company always puts safety first and that the lawsuits reflect that strategy. She declined to comment further for this story.
In a lawsuit filed last week in California Superior Court in San Francisco County, Waymo sued a Tesla Model 3 driver who it says intentionally rear-ended one of Jaguar’s self-driving crossovers. According to the lawsuit, the driver, Konstantine Nikka-Sher Piterman, said in an X post that “Waymo just turned me off” before approaching Tesla CEO Elon Musk for a job. A second lawsuit this month, filed in the same court, alleges that Ronaile Burton slashed 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 trial is scheduled for Tuesday.
Burton’s spokesman, Adam Birka-White, said in a statement that Burton “is someone who needs help, not prison” and that prosecutors continue to “prioritize punishing poor people at the behest of corporations, in this case a tech company that is under federal investigation for creating unsafe conditions on our streets.”
Burton’s attorney in the civil case was not listed in court documents, and Burton is currently in jail and could not be reached for comment. Piterman did not respond to voicemails, LinkedIn messages or emails seeking comment. He has not responded to the allegations in court.
Available court records in San Francisco and Phoenix show that Waymo has not filed similar lawsuits before.
In Tesla case, Piterman ‘unlawfully, maliciously and intentionally’ drove his car through a stop sign and hit a Waymo car in San Francisco March 19According to the company’s lawsuit. When Waymo tried to pull over, Piterman allegedly drove the Tesla back into Waymo’s car. He then allegedly entered Waymo and later threatened a Waymo representative who personally arrived at the scene. San Francisco police cited Piterman, according to the lawsuit. Police did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.