An unoccupied Waymo self-driving car went up in flames yesterday after rolling over a small firework near the 1200 block of Connecticut Street in San Francisco, turning a routine test run into a smoky roadside spectacle. No one was inside the vehicle and no injuries were reported, but the blaze badly damaged the car and drew a response from the San Francisco Fire Department. Crews later cleared the charred vehicle from the roadway while Waymo and city officials assessed what happened.
According to NBC Bay Area, a Waymo spokesperson said the vehicle ignited after it drove over a small firework. The company told the station it coordinated with the San Francisco Fire Department and local authorities to safely remove the car and secure the immediate area. NBC Bay Area also placed the incident near the 1200 block of Connecticut Street and confirmed there were no reported injuries.
Fireworks And Crowds Have Tripped Up Robotaxis Before
This is not the first time fireworks or crowds have spelled trouble for driverless cars in San Francisco. In February 2024, a crowd in Chinatown smashed the windows of a Waymo vehicle and tossed a firework inside, setting the car on fire, The Washington Post reported. Industry coverage has chronicled a steady stream of edge cases and operational headaches for the company, including voluntary recalls and temporary service pauses as the company updates software, according to reporting by TechCrunch.
Why Firefighters Warn About Fireworks And EVs
San Francisco bans private fireworks, and the fire department routinely warns that they trigger a surge in emergency calls during holiday weekends, according to a San Francisco Fire Department advisory. Battery-electric vehicles rely on high-energy lithium-ion packs that can enter thermal runaway; fire-safety studies indicate those fires can burn intensely, give off toxic gases and sometimes take longer to knock down than conventional vehicle fires, PubMed Central notes. Fire officials say that mix of illegal fireworks and high-energy battery packs makes even a small lit firework a risky trigger when it meets a modern EV out on city streets.
Waymo did not immediately say whether the burned vehicle would be repaired or taken out of service. In its statement to NBC Bay Area, the company emphasized its coordination with the San Francisco Fire Department and local authorities after the incident. City officials and transportation watchdogs have been tracking a string of robotaxi edge cases around San Francisco, and this latest fire is likely to fuel those ongoing debates. For local reporting on related robotaxi problems in the city, see Hoodline’s earlier coverage of robotaxi crashes and stalls by the publication’s transportation team.
