Jeff Hunley barely had time to buckle in before the first egg hit. He had just called a Waymo robotaxi to take him to Union Station in Denver on September 24 when a driver pulled up alongside the vehicle and started throwing eggs at it — splattering one on the window before the car had even pulled away from the curb.
A Chase Through Downtown Denver
What followed was recorded by Hunley himself and described in detail to KDVR: the driver circled around to chase the Waymo, caught up to it at the corner of 11th and Broadway, and then pulled in front of the vehicle to block it. According to the station's report, the driver then got out of the car with a full carton of eggs, walked around the Waymo throwing more at it, and eventually drove off. Hunley told the outlet he was scared at first, though he said the vandalism simply wasn't warranted.
People on the street reportedly pulled out their own phones to film the egg-covered car as it continued on toward Union Station, per the same account. Hunley said he contacted Waymo while he was still inside the vehicle. The company comped his ride and gave him credits for future trips, the station reported. No one was hurt, and because of that, Hunley chose not to file a police report.
A Regular Rider, Now a Little More Wary
Hunley said Waymo robotaxis have been a genuinely useful way to get around Denver since the service launched, and he told KDVR he doesn't plan to give them up despite what happened. He's become more skeptical of how the vehicles are treated on the road, but he said he intends to keep calling them.
Part of a Bigger Pattern
Denver's Waymo fleet opened to the public on Sept. 1, according to Westword, and the egg-throwing episode is far from the only hiccup the service has seen in its first weeks in the city. Just days earlier, on Sept. 20, an empty Waymo drove into the South Pearl Street Farmers Market before staff guided it back onto the street, Westword reported. Denver police have also logged one collision involving a Waymo, though the vehicle was found not at fault — the same crash reported by the Denver Post, which said the car was rear-ended and not responsible.
Westword also notes that Colorado lawmakers authorized fully autonomous vehicles statewide back in 2017 through Senate Bill 17-213, and that state legislators are expected to consider new regulations on autonomous vehicles during next year's session. Nationally, the numbers are bigger: Waymo vehicles have racked up more than 1,600 collisions resulting in police reports since the company's fully driverless service began in Phoenix in 2020, according to Westword's reporting.
Eggs, Spray Paint and Drop Kicks Elsewhere
Denver isn't the first place where Waymo's robotaxis have drawn out people's worst impulses. KQED has reported that the driverless cars have unsettled some residents in San Francisco and Los Angeles, where incidents have ranged from a group spray-painting a Waymo while passengers sat inside to a swarm in Los Angeles where one person drop-kicked a passenger door off its hinges and another struck the windshield with part of the car's own bumper. The outlet traced the hostility back to 2018, when people threw rocks at and attacked early test vehicles in Arizona. A Waymo spokesperson's position, per KQED, is that the company's own data shows its vehicles are safer than human drivers, while one tech journalist cited by the outlet suggested the bigger risk may be nuisance rather than danger.
Eggs specifically have turned up as a theme beyond Denver, too. In July, two 14-year-old boys were arrested after allegedly stealing six dozen eggs from a San Carlos Trader Joe's and throwing them at cars from inside a moving Waymo on El Camino Real, according to the Almanac. Several drivers in Redwood City reported objects striking their vehicles before Atherton police stopped the Waymo near El Camino Real and Atherton Avenue and detained the teens while investigators sorted out what happened.
For Hunley, the whole thing ended with a car full of broken shells, a couple of ride credits, and no police report. He's still calling Waymos.
