Waymo cars get torched by LA protesters, burning Google – an immigration ally | Opinion
Whether there by chance or by protester design, the driverless vehicles made easy marks for anti-government agitators.
It isn’t clear yet how so many Waymo vehicles went up in flames in Los Angeles over the weekend, but speculation abounds across the internet that protesters hailed them to downtown LA.
Whether there by chance or by protester design, the driverless vehicles made easy marks for anti-government agitators, who first slashed their tires, busted out their windows, spray-painted them with graffiti and then put at least three to the torch.
All of this has resonance in greater Phoenix, where Waymo test drives its cars in such high numbers that this has become the “largest area for autonomous ride-hailing service in the nation,” according to the Phoenix Business Journal.
Los Angeles rioters protesting federal immigration roundups attacked five Waymo vehicles, the Los Angeles Times reported. They badly damaged all and set fire to three.
LA protesters set 3 Waymo cars on fire
Waymo vehicles are not like yours or mine.
They are generally Jaguar I-Pace electric SUVs retrofitted with sophisticated LiDAR sensors that employ lasers to 3D map the area around them. The cars are also retrofitted with 29 cameras that produce a 360-degree view of the area surrounding the car, something protesting vandals may not have appreciated.
Nor are these cars cheap.
To produce and retrofit Waymo vehicles with their sophisticated equipment and software brings the price tag to roughly $150,000 to $200,000 each, The Wall Street Journal reports. If burning Waymos becomes a protest “thing,” that could be a problem for Waymo and its parent corporation Alphabet, which also owns Google.
It could also become a problem for more responsible protesters who march peacefully in support of immigrant rights. Because the militant activists among them are biting the hand that feeds them.
Anti-ICE protesters forgot Google is not their enemy
Google has been an enthusiastic and generous supporter of immigrant rights over the past decade.
In 2017, Google created a $4 million crisis fund, at the time the company’s largest crisis fund ever, to support immigration rights and organizations that advance the cause, Paste BN reported.
That meant money for the American Civil Liberties Union, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, International Rescue Committee and The United Nations Refugee Agency to defend the rights of Latin American immigrants, such as those protesting in Los Angeles this past weekend.
Google proposed these financial grants only days after Google CEO Sundar Pichai expressed strong objections to President Donald Trump – then in his first term – and Trump’s executive order to suspend entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days.
In 2021, Google announced that it would support then-President Joe Biden’s proposal to pass humane and comprehensive immigration reform by paying the application fees for about 500 young migrants seeking jobs under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, Reuters reported.
Google’s proposal would send $250,000 to United We Dream, described by Reuters as assisting immigrants “unlawfully living in the United States after arriving as children (to) secure work permits and avoid deportation using DACA.”
The internet laughs at Waymo, for now
By their actions, Los Angeles protesters not only torched Waymos. They also set the internet on fire with colorful snark.
One post blazing across the internet uses a familiar movie still from Martin Scorsese’s 1990 gangster film “Goodfellas.” It depicts the face of mafia enforcer Tommy DeVito (played by Joe Pesci) as he walks into an empty room and realizes he’s been double-crossed.
College professor Keith Oregel captioned the image, “A Waymo arriving to pick up a passenger in downtown Los Angeles.”
Another internet meme shows Democratic California Rep. Nancy Pelosi – who gained notoriety for making Wall Street millions – as she walks briskly and talks on the telephone. The image is captioned, “Sell Waymo.”
Today, the joke is on Waymo.
Tomorrow, when those five cars yield the digital imagery of their combined 145 cameras, it might be on the protesters caught with their pants down.
Phil Boas is an editorial columnist with The Arizona Republic, where this column originally published. Email him at phil.boas@arizonarepublic.com.