A Waymo robotaxi stopped its own vehicle and contacted police after two passengers rode with what the article described as a ghost gun. The incident, reported by The Verge, adds to a pattern of the company's autonomous vehicles intervening when riders are accused of illegal activity. It also raises questions for U.S. riders about how much monitoring is built into robotaxis and when companies are expected to call authorities.
The episode follows an earlier case this year in which a Waymo faked having mechanical problems in order to pull over. In that instance, two passengers were drinking alcohol and firing a toy gun out of the back of the car. The riders Waymo reported in that incident were juveniles, according to the article.
The source article did not specify how many passengers were involved in the ghost gun case, where it occurred, or what charges, if any, followed. It also did not say what type of ghost gun was involved or how Waymo detected it. The Verge's account characterized the company's action as pulling over and calling the cops on the riders.
Taken together, the two episodes show a robotaxi behaving less like a passive ride and more like a vehicle that can report on the people inside it. In the earlier case, the vehicle created a reason to stop rather than simply continuing the trip. In the later case, it stopped and summoned law enforcement.
The article's framing was blunt: a robotaxi can and will snitch on its passengers. It offered the two incidents as an illustration of that point, noting that in the first case the riders were juveniles. The piece closed with a warning aimed at teenagers about doing foolish things in the back of a robotaxi.
For a U.S. technology audience, the incidents touch on questions about data collection and law enforcement cooperation in autonomous vehicles. Waymo has not publicly detailed how it decides when to involve police, and the article did not include any company statement on the ghost gun episode. The Verge's report did not address whether passengers are notified that they may be reported.
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