In January, a Waymo car was torn apart in Los Angeles. In February 2024, another Waymo car was smashed and set ablaze in San Francisco. And in July 2024, a man was charged with slashing the tires of 17 Waymo cars in San Francisco.

Waymo said it had temporarily halted service in downtown Los Angeles after several of its cars were torched during protests.

Now electric, driverless vehicles have been summoned to protest scenes via the Waymo app. The resulting EV fires burn hotter than traditional car fires and are potentially more hazardous. The autonomous robot taxis owned by Google parent company Alphabet were tagged with protest slogans and profanity—and set on fire—as a way to disrupt traffic over the weekend and demonstrate against the widespread roundup of migrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

Waymo has suspended service of its ride-hailing service in downtown Los Angeles after its vehicles were set on fire during protests against immigration raids in the area.

As Los Angeles ICE protests escalated over the weekend, Waymo's self-driving vehicles took the brunt of the damage.

In one photo, at least five Waymo robotaxis can be seen engulfed in flames, with anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement graffiti scrawled on the doors.

The incident came amid escalating tensions in L.A. as thousands of protesters took to the streets in response to President Donald Trump's extraordinary deployment of the National Guard, blocking off the 101 Freeway as LAPD officers used tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash bangs to control the crowd.