A number of Waymo robotaxis and Lime e-scooters have been set on hearth this weekend amid unrest in downtown Los Angeles spurred by teams protesting immigration raids within the metropolis by the Trump administration.
A gaggle of protesters attacked 5 Waymo autonomous automobiles on Los Angeles Avenue early on Sunday night, experiences Los Angeles Occasions. They slashed tires, broke home windows, and spray-painted anti-ICE messages. Three vehicles have been set on hearth, and at one level, “the besieged Waymos started honking their horns in coordinated cacophony,” the LA Occasions wrote.
The Occasions experiences that some Lime e-scooters have been additionally thrown into the burning shells of Waymo’s Jaguar I-Paces. The LAPD famous that setting hearth to lithium-ion batteries releases poisonous gases like hydrogen fluoride, posing a danger to bystanders.
It’s not clear why protesters attacked the Waymo automobiles. Up to now, police have tapped robotaxi firms for footage to assist remedy crimes — in April, 404 Media reported that the LAPD printed video footage obtained from a Waymo driverless automotive as a part of an investigation right into a separate hit-and-run incident.
Waymo and Lime didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Since Waymo launched its self-driving ride-hail service in Los Angeles in November 2024, its vehicles have been the goal of a number of acts of vandalism in LA and different cities it operates in. In July 2024, a Bay Space resident was charged with vandalizing 17 Waymos in San Francisco over the course of three days.
The protests in Los Angeles started on June 6 in response to a collection of aggressive ICE raids throughout town, resulting in the arrest of over 100 immigrants. A mixture of peaceable and violent protests unfold over the weekend to Paramount and Compton, and blocked main freeways.
President Trump responded by federalizing the California Nationwide Guard, and deploying as much as 300 troopers to Los Angeles. State and metropolis officers opposed this motion, with California Governor Gavin Newsom formally requesting the elimination of Nationwide Guard troops, saying the transfer was a “critical breach of state sovereignty.”
Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth stated over the weekend he’s ready to mobilize the Marines if violence continues.
Movies circulating on-line present LAPD personnel beating again anti-ICE protesters, and even some journalists, with batons and rubber bullets.