Overview
- The theft occurred in January when an unidentified person grabbed activewear from a Marina yoga studio and left the scene in a Waymo self-driving Jaguar, and police have not publicly identified or arrested a suspect.
- Officers secured a search warrant in April for the car’s recordings and rider data, but Waymo had already deleted interior video and outside footage available to investigators shows faces blurred under the company’s privacy protections.
- Waymo says it reviews law-enforcement requests for legal validity and will narrow or push back on broad demands to protect rider privacy, and the company retains recordings for only a short period.
- SFPD investigators said they expected a Waymo’s many interior and exterior cameras would make identification easier, but detectives also note suspects can use burner accounts or stolen phones to order rides, limiting traceability.
- The case follows a January 2025 Los Angeles incident where a Waymo ride ultimately helped police catch a suspect, and it is likely to fuel calls for clearer retention rules and procedures for police access to autonomous-vehicle data.