SAN MATEO, Calif. (KRON) — Waymo is always watching, two teenagers on summer break found out this week.
The 15-year-old passengers were riding in a driverless autonomous car around San Mateo Monday afternoon. The teens drank alcohol inside the Waymo taxi and shot Orbeez beads with a toy gun toward other vehicles.
A Waymo employee, who was remotely monitoring the car, tricked the unruly teenagers, authorities said. The employee told the young passengers that the Waymo was having mechanical issues and needed to stop.
Unknown to the teens, the employee had also called the San Mateo Police Department to report that a gun was firing from the car.
SMPD spokesperson Jeanine Luna said, “They saw what they described as a firearm in the vehicle, described it black in color, and at some point believed that the passengers were firing.”
The Waymo car stopped in a shopping center’s parking lot by El Camino Real and Highway 92, where five police officers were waiting.
San Mateo police officers search a Waymo on July 6, 2026. (Photo via SMPD)
“We conducted a high risk traffic stop. Waymo did disable the vehicle for us in a location that we were able to set up safely. And at that point, we pulled them out of the vehicle, searched the vehicle, and then we found what we determined to be Orbeez,” Luna said.
(Photo: San Mateo Police Department)
The 15-year-old passengers were detained by police and later released to their parents. Police sent the case to the district attorney’s office to review for possible charges, including underage drinking and engaging in threatening behavior.
“Parents do you know where your teens are? Waymo does!” the police department wrote.
What teenagers may consider harmless fun can have real consequences, Luna explained.
“It’s harmless until you feel threatened by it. What we find is happening is people are taking baby guns, toy guns, water guns, and they’re painting them black to resemble real firearms. And that’s the problem, because to an untrained eye, you’re going to believe it’s a real gun.”
Waymo did not respond to KRON4’s request for comment on the incident.
