Viral video captures men trapping woman in Waymo

A San Francisco tech worker’s weekend ride in a Waymo took an unsettling turn when two men halted the robotaxi and pressured her for her phone number.

Amina V., who asked that her last name not be published, was sitting in the passenger seat around 10 a.m. Saturday when a man in a red hoodie approached the autonomous vehicle just after it stopped for a red light at Mission and Ninth streets.

“He stood in front of it so that it would come to a complete stop,” the 28-year-old San Francisco resident told The Standard on Tuesday. “I was a bit frightened when it first happened because I didn’t know what they were gonna do.”

A second man soon joined, and both tried to engage her in conversation through the car’s windows. She pulled out her cellphone and filmed the end of the encounter, which lasted several minutes, before the men left.

“Get out of the way! Move!” she can be heard in the video telling the hoodie-wearing man. “Oh, my God, get out of the way! I have to go! Stop, you’re holding up traffic!”

A man wearing a dark jacket and a white knit cap then joins the first man, who holds up his hand like a phone and says, “Can I call you?” Amina yells back, “No! Get out! Move!” 

Amina, who said she has used Waymo at least 10 times since summer, posted about the incident on social media to raise awareness.

“Warning to women in SF,” she wrote on X. “I love Waymo but this was scary. … Ladies please be aware of this.”

“There was a random guy walking with a blow torch. I was afraid more men would crowd around which thankfully didn’t happen,” she said in follow-up posts before praising Waymo’s in-car support call system. 

“They also called me to follow up and all around [have been] good at solving this problem,” she wrote. “I may still take them but will be careful taking it alone.”

In a post on X, Waymo said the company was sorry to learn about her experience, adding that “your safety remains our top priority.”

“We hope you’ll consider riding with us again in the future,” the company said.

In a statement to The Standard, a Waymo spokesperson said incidents like these are “exceedingly rare among the 100,000 trips we serve a week” in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.

“Our riders have 24/7 access to Rider Support agents who will help them navigate the situation in real-time and coordinate closely with law enforcement officers to provide further assistance as needed,” the spokesperson said.

When asked if any images or footage captured by the vehicle would be used in filing a police report or seeking charges, the spokesperson said the company did not have any information to share.

Amina said she may continue using Waymo but will be more cautious about riding alone.