Waymo declined to answer questions in Wired about how many cameras there are inside its vehicles, how long the video was kept, and whether the company has handed over the video to a U.S. federal law enforcement or a branch of the military. However, KARP does point out that the company’s engineering team sometimes uses information from sensors, including video recordings and other data, to run simulations designed to improve its technology. She said Waymo also limits who can access the data and how long it will last.
Waymo’s Robotaxi service is currently available in the Phoenix metro area as well as parts of San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin, Texas. During a relatively short period of time the company has operated in U.S. cities, it demonstrates willingness to comply with law enforcement’s video requests.
According to Phoenix’s ABC 15, officers working at the Mesa Police Department and the Chandler Police Department in Arizona have been asking for and using videotapes for criminal investigations, or as long as the vehicle has been in town. (The person pleaded guilty after being charged with disorderly conduct.)
In May 2022, two months after Waymo began limited operations in San Francisco, VICE reported that a training document from San Francisco police explicitly told police that “autonomous cars” have footage that can sometimes “help investigate leaders help.”
As of 2023, Waymo has issued at least nine search warrants in San Francisco and Maricopa County, Arizona. One of the cases involved the murder of Uber drivers in 2021. While San Francisco police say they cannot identify specific Waymo vehicles near the crime scene, an official believes there are “probable reasons” that make the Waymo vehicles “driving in the area” and possess footage of the victim, possible suspects and crime scenes, according to Blomeberg’s searchers. Waymo complied and provided the footage, but it didn’t ultimately lead to the arrest of the suspect, who was convicted in 2023.
Last year, Wired reported that Waymo sued two people who allegedly destroyed their vehicles in San Francisco and recorded camera footage from the car suspected of the incident. (One of the cases is ongoing; the other was fired last month.)
Waymo’s video recording and data collection practices are not unique. For operation, all vehicles with autonomous driving capabilities rely on a combination of lidar, radar and video data. Cruise, a now-defunct self-driving venture capital run by General Motors, also reportedly recording cameras as law enforcement as required.
Private owners equipped with camera vehicles can also voluntarily record cameras to law enforcement. For example, police in Berkeley, California received at least two sets of videos from the owner of Tesla Cybertruck, according to documents obtained through Public Record requests through Public Records.
Other reports from Paresh Dave.
