Police arrested a homeless man who they say tried to steal a Waymo self-driving car in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday night.
The man entered and tried to drive the Waymo car, which had stopped to let a passenger out. After the homeless man, whom the Waymo representative called an “unauthorized pedestrian,” entered the car, the company’s rider support team ordered him to get out of the car. When he failed to do so, the company contacted the police, who were able to get the man out of the car and arrest him.
The car was not damaged and the driver was not injured. According to Waymo, the car was stationary throughout the incident because the company identified an unauthorized person in the vehicle.
Waymo is a subsidiary of Google that develops autonomous driving technologies. The company has been testing its cars in Los Angeles for more than a year, but has faced criticism and protests from local residents and authorities who believe that self-driving cars pose a threat to safety and jobs.
