Two teenagers, aged 14 and 15, were detained by police in San Mateo, California, after a Waymo representative monitoring the vehicle's live interior camera feeds observed the underage occupants drinking alcohol and firing what appeared to be a real weapon out of the driverless car. The toy used was a water-bead blaster resembling a real gun. Following the alert, Waymo shared the car's location with authorities and disabled the vehicle, informing the teens it was "experiencing mechanical trouble," according to police reports.
The San Mateo Police Department posted a recap of the incident on Facebook with a humorous tone, stating, "Parents, do you know where your teens are? @waymo does!" While many received the post positively, it also raised concerns about privacy in autonomous vehicles.
Irina Raicu, director of the Internet Ethics program at Santa Clara University, told NPR the post might "make Waymo passengers wonder what triggers a police intervention." Meanwhile, Alessandro Acquisti, an information technology professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, suggested that Waymo is "most likely" not fully transparent with customers about its data usage.
However, the incident highlights that the two teens would not have been eligible to use Waymo services without misrepresenting their age or booking the ride through another account. Waymo's data policy states the company may use cameras to "check that in-car rules are being followed" and to "review video under certain circumstances," including live video during trips.
The teens appeared to wait for the vehicle to resolve its mechanical issue before continuing their ride.
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