GoKawiilWhat just happened? San Francisco police are used to pulling surveillance footage from nearby businesses or street cameras when investigating a break-in. In this case, they had something far more advanced: a self-driving car packed with sensors, cameras, and trip data. It still wasn't enough.
In January, a burglar used a Waymo robotaxi as a getaway vehicle after breaking into a Hot 8 Yoga studio in the Marina District. The theft itself was quick. Surveillance video shows the suspect entering the studio, grabbing merchandise, and leaving within minutes. Outside, a Waymo vehicle waited. The thief got in, and the car drove off.
Nearly six months later, police have still not made an arrest or publicly identified a suspect.
The theft stands out not because of what was stolen – mostly athletic wear – but because of the technology involved. Waymo's latest Jaguar vehicles are equipped with 29 cameras that provide a 360-degree view, and rides are tied to user accounts. For investigators, it seemed like a case that should be relatively straightforward.
"I would think it would be easier to solve in a Waymo," Sgt. Tim Faye, the detective assigned to the case, told the San Francisco Chronicle. Instead, the data trail went cold.
Police obtained a search warrant for information tied to the ride, including account details and video from the vehicle. The account itself didn't lead anywhere useful. Services like ride-hailing apps can be accessed using stolen payment information or burner phones, making it difficult to trace a real identity.
The bigger problem was the footage. By the time the warrant was filed in April, Waymo no longer had the interior video from the theft. Exterior footage was available, but it came with limitations. Faces captured outside the vehicle had been blurred, part of the company's broader privacy safeguards.
"It's highly unusual in the first place that a Waymo is even used by a suspect," Faye said. "It was disappointing that the internal video was not able to lead to the recognition of a suspect."
Waymo has not publicly disclosed how long it retains video data from its vehicles, and the company declined to comment on the specifics of the case. It has said it reviews law enforcement requests to ensure they are legally valid and may push back on or narrow the scope of those requests to protect rider privacy. The company also says it does not use facial recognition or other biometric identification tools.
Law enforcement has increasingly turned to connected vehicles for evidence in recent years. Teslas, for example, can record activity around the car, and that footage has been used in investigations. In some cases, officers have even towed vehicles believed to contain useful recordings to preserve potential evidence. But the Waymo case shows the limits of that strategy when privacy protections and data retention policies come into play.
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