Two minors riding in a self-driving Waymo robotaxi were arrested in San Francisco after the company detected a firearm in the vehicle, pulled over and notified police. Officers later recovered a loaded AR-style “ghost gun.”
Waymo said it stopped the autonomous vehicle after identifying a “violation of our terms of service involving a firearm.” The company then contacted emergency services and cooperated with the San Francisco Police Department, according to SFGATE and the Los Angeles Times.
Officers from the San Francisco Police Department’s Richmond Station were dispatched to 40th Avenue and Cabrillo Street shortly before 4 a.m. on Sept. 3. Police had received a report that two passengers in the Waymo were carrying a firearm.
When officers arrived, they detained the passengers—one boy and one girl. Their names and ages have not been released because both are minors.
A search of the robotaxi turned up a loaded AR-style rifle that police described as a ghost gun.
Ghost guns are manufactured without serial numbers, which can make them difficult for law enforcement to trace.
Police also searched the two juveniles and recovered suspected marijuana and mace spray, according to authorities.
Both minors were arrested on charges connected to illegal firearm possession. They were taken into custody and booked at San Francisco’s Juvenile Justice Center.
The incident is not the first time Waymo has contacted police about the conduct of underage passengers.
A similar case occurred in July, when San Mateo police responded to a Waymo after the company reported that two 15-year-olds inside the self-driving vehicle appeared to be drinking and firing an object from the car.
Police later determined that the teenagers had been drinking and shooting Orbeez water beads from the vehicle.
“Parents do you know where your teens are? @waymo does!” the San Mateo Police Department wrote on Facebook after the incident.
The Sept. 3 incident remains under investigation, according to San Francisco police.
The California Post reached out to Waymo about the incident but they declined to comment.
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