Two teens who engaged a Waymo car for an afternoon of carousing were busted after the vehicle delivered them to the San Mateo police.
The 15-year-olds allegedly were drinking alcohol and shooting water beads from a toy gun as they rode in the driverless car Monday, the police’s social media post said. Waymo stopped the car in a parking lot and notified the police, who detained the teens.
Police photos show five officers, one with a dog, surrounding the car at a shopping center just south of the interchange of El Camino Real and Highway 92.
The police post allowed “there was some ingenuity to this scheme” but said underage drinking and brandishing of even toy guns to strangers are “bad ideas.”
Waymo cars have interior cameras, and the images can be monitored by the company’s employees. In “more urgent circumstances,” the support team “may access live video during a trip,” Waymo’s support page says.
sylbug on July 8th, 2026 at 00:04 UTC »
Hehe a little sneaky headline that implies Waymo kidnapped children to stir people up. Good times. Let that rage flow!
WhereasParticular867 on July 7th, 2026 at 21:26 UTC »
Clickbait headline. The car (or a company rep with access to the car's cameras) alerted authorities in a parking lot. It did not deliver the children to a police station. They weren't locked in, as the headline obviously wants you to infer.
MuscaMurum on July 7th, 2026 at 21:13 UTC »
My mother, the car