A Waymo car drives up a hill in San Francisco on Sept. 4, 2025. (Jeff Chiu / Associated Press) - Click here to listen to this article
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Two young people riding in an autonomous vehicle were arrested in San Francisco after authorities allegedly found them in possession of an illegal “ghost gun.”
The San Francisco Police Department did not identify the operator of the autonomous vehicle, but a Waymo spokesperson confirmed to The Times that the incident involved one of its cars.
The company pulled the car over after detecting a “violation of our terms of service involving a firearm,” the spokesperson said. The company alerted emergency services and “cooperated fully” with San Francisco police.
AdvertisementThe incident took place shortly before 4 a.m. on Sept. 3 in the city’s Richmond District, the Police Department said in a statement Thursday.
The department said officers conducted a “high-risk vehicle stop” and detained the two juvenile passengers — a boy and a girl. The statement did not identify them further.
Officers searched the car and discovered a loaded, AR-style assault rifle, as well as “suspected marijuana and mace spray,” authorities said in the statement.
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Aug. 14, 2026The investigation remains “open and active,” police said. The passengers were taken into custody and to a juvenile hall.
San Francisco police did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment Friday.
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Sept. 5, 2026This wasn’t the first time Waymo has tattled on alleged troublemakers. In July, Waymo contacted the San Mateo Police Department after two teens were found drinking alcohol and shooting toy guns in the back of a car, authorities said at the time.
Waymo’s roots date back to 2009, when it was founded as Google’s self-driving car project. Waymo spun out of Google in 2016, and has since drastically expanded its service footprint. The hat-topped cars are now a fixture in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and even sparked a beeping backlash in Santa Monica.
The company this month launched paid service in San Diego, Denver and Tampa, Fla. Last month, it won permission from the California Public Utilities Commission to operate in San Diego, Sacramento and communities in Orange and Riverside counties, among others.
The company has occasionally made headlines for bizarre incidents involving its driverless cars. In July, a shirtless man in East Hollywood was recorded standing on top of a Waymo while dismantling the car. In 2025, a man in downtown Los Angeles was taken into custody when he allegedly tried to get behind the wheel of a Waymo and drive off.
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