Waymo drivers report harassment, motorists brandishing handguns

Police have documented nearly two dozen incidents from angry locals in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler.

Waymo has apparently not been warmly welcomed by all residents of Chandler, Arizona, where the company has logged millions of miles ahead of a commercial launch.

An Arizona Republic report details several notable incidents among nearly two dozen filings logged by Chandler police. The most extreme examples include 69-year-old Roy Haselton's arrest on August 8 for holding up a revolver and trying to scare a Waymo driver.

"Haselton said that his wife usually keeps the gun locked up in fear that he might shoot somebody," detective Cameron Jacobs wrote in the report. "Haselton stated that he despises and hates those cars (Waymo) and said how Uber had killed someone."

In other cases, residents have thrown rocks at the self-driving vans or even slashed a tire when one was stopped in traffic. Evoking Tank Man from the Tiananmen Square protests, one "heavily intoxicated" local decided to stand in front of a Waymo van to prevent it from proceeding.

"He stated he was sick and tired of the Waymo vehicles driving in his neighborhood, and apparently thought the best idea to resolve this was to stand in front of one of these vehicles," police noted.

Waymo and other companies developing autonomous vehicles have worked to resolve early issues involving erratic behavior or a general failure of the self-driving system to mesh well with human traffic that may not be adhering precisely to traffic regulations. The Chandler police reports suggest few if any of the most extreme confrontations directly involve such issues, however.

To be fair, Waymo's fleet has driven 10 million miles on public roads across 25 cities. The Pheonix suburb presumably accounts for the largest share of any single city, providing plenty of opportunities to tangle with disturbed locals.

The company has addressed the encounters by training its drivers to contact dispatch or call police directly.

"Over the past two years, we've found Arizonans to be welcoming and excited by the potential of this technology to make our roads safer," the company said in a statement. "We believe a key element of local engagement has been our ongoing work with the communities in which we drive, including Arizona law enforcement and first responders."