San Mateo Kron — Waymo is always watching, two teenagers on summer break found out this week.
The 15-year-old passengers were
riding in a driverless autonomous car around San Mateo Monday afternoon. The teens drank alcohol inside the Waymo taxi and shot Orbeez beads with a toy gun toward other vehicles.
A Waymo employee, who was remotely monitoring the car, tricked the unruly teenagers, authorities said. The employee
told the young passengers that the Waymo was having mechanical issues and needed to stop.
Unknown to the teens, the employee had also called the San Mateo Police Department to report that a gun was firing from the car.
SMPD spokesperson Jeanine Luna said, “
They saw what they described as a firearm in the vehicle, described it black in color, and at some point believed that the passengers were firing.”
The Waymo car stopped in a shopping center’s parking lot by El Camino Real and Highway 92, where five police officers were waiting.
“We conducted a high risk traffic stop. Waymo did disable the vehicle for us in a location that we were able to set up safely. And at that point, we pulled them out of the vehicle, searched the vehicle, and then we found what we determined to be Orbeez,” Luna said.
The 15-year-old passengers were detained by police and later released to their parents.
Police sent the case to the district attorney’s office to review for possible charges, including underage drinking and engaging in threatening behavior.