Photos show Waymo vehicles on fire during LA protests as company cuts downtown service
A row of Waymo cars burn on a side road all the way through an anti-ICE protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.
Benjamin Hanson | Afp | Getty Pictures
A number of Waymo self sufficient cars have been made to burn in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday amid popular protests in opposition to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
A spokesperson for the Alphabet-owned corporate showed that 5 Waymo cars have been vandalized within the neighborhood of the protests and have been not able to be retrieved. Waymo suspended carrier within the protest section till it was once deemed shield, the spokesperson added.
Waymo answered with steerage from the Los Angeles Police Area, the spokesperson mentioned.
A Waymo automobile burns on the street as smoke billows all the way through protests in Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.
David Pashaee | Afp | Getty Pictures
The protests erupted in downtown LA on Friday next Immigration and Customs Enforcement carried out raids within the town and condition communities. Demonstrations have been in large part non violent, however tensions flared Saturday and Sunday, with police clashing with protesters akin the Metropolitan Detention Heart in downtown LA.
California Nationwide Barricade participants arrived within the town on Sunday next Trump signed an line to deploy 2,000 troops in keeping with the protests. Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom mentioned the situation plans to document a lawsuit in opposition to the Trump management next it “illegally acted to federalize the National Guard,” Newsom wrote in a publish Monday on X.
The left-overs of a burned Waymo car on the street following an evening of protests in keeping with federal immigration operations in Los Angeles, on June 9, 2025.
Frederic J. Brown | Afp | Getty Pictures
In a single picture, a series of Waymo robotaxis may also be unmistakable engulfed in flames, with anti-ICE graffiti scrawled around the automobiles’ hoods and doorways. It’s non-transperant whether or not the cars have been intentionally focused.
Some crowd have been unmistakable tossing Lime e-scooters into the burning Waymo cars, the Los Angeles Occasions reported.
“Burning lithium-ion batteries release toxic gases, including hydrogen fluoride, posing risks to responders and those nearby,” the LAPD mentioned in a remark posted on X.
A shirtless protester stands atop a Waymo car all the way through an anti-ICE protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.
Benjamin Hanson | Afp | Getty Pictures
A Waymo in San Francisco’s Monetary District was once additionally vandalized with graffiti on Sunday as crowd demonstrated to help the protests in opposition to immigration raids in L.A., in step with a Reddit publish. It’s non-transperant what number of cars have been affected.
Waymo started providing robotaxi rides throughout 80-plus sq. miles of LA in 2024. The carrier additionally operates in portions of San Francisco, Phoenix and Austin, Texas.
The corporate has greater than 1,500 cars in its fleet throughout L.A., San Francisco, Phoenix and Austin.
Analysts from Cowen estimate that Waymo cars value $160,000 a work and that the corporate may have greater than 15,000 taxis in its fleet by means of 2030, because it “dramatically” ramps up manufacturing. The company has a purchase ranking on Alphabet stocks.
— GWN’s Lora Kolodny and Jennifer Elias contributed reporting to this text.