Thick smoke and flames in the middle of San Francisco.
A Waymo autonomous taxi, from the Alphabet group, the parent company of Google, was vandalized and completely set on fire by several people on Saturday evening in the Californian city.
No one was injured.
The driverless vehicle was traveling without any passengers on board.
A Waymo spokeswoman said that around 9 p.m. Saturday, "a fully autonomous Waymo vehicle was traveling through San Francisco when a crowd surrounded and vandalized the vehicle, breaking the window and setting off fireworks inside, which who set the vehicle on fire.
“The vehicle was not carrying any passengers and no injuries were reported.
We are working closely with local security officials to respond to the situation, said this spokesperson.
Images published on social networks show the white Jaguar, before the fire, stopped on the public highway, in a crowded street in San Francisco's Chinatown, where New Year's celebrations were taking place. In the crowd, several people dressed black people break the windows, one using his skateboard.
Other videos then show the car tagged, windows broken, fireworks exploding inside, then on fire with an impressive plume of smoke emanating from it.
A few days earlier, a cyclist was slightly injured after being hit by a Waymo taxi, also in San Francisco, according to several media.
San Francisco is the laboratory of autonomous vehicles.
But their development is slower than expected and is causing tension among some residents.
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The autonomous vehicle company Cruise, a subsidiary of the American giant General Motors, interrupted its activities indefinitely at the end of October after several accidents and the suspension of its authorizations in California.
It operated autonomous electric taxis in several American cities.