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Your ride shows up. There’s no driver to make small talk with. But that doesn’t mean nobody is watching.
Colion Noir is raising questions after Waymo stopped a ride and alerted authorities about a firearm inside one of its autonomous vehicles. Two juvenile passengers were arrested in San Francisco.
For Noir, the bigger question isn’t whether those passengers should have been arrested. It’s what happens when a lawful gun owner gets into a car with a no-weapons policy and cameras inside.
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What Happened in San Francisco
Police responded shortly before 4 a.m. on Sept. 3 in San Francisco’s Richmond District. Officers conducted what the department described as a high-risk vehicle stop.
They recovered a loaded AR-style rifle described by police as a “ghost gun,” along with suspected marijuana and mace spray. A male and female juvenile were arrested on suspicion of illegal firearm possession.
Waymo confirmed that it stopped the vehicle after detecting a firearm-related violation of its terms of service. The company contacted emergency services and cooperated with police, according to Los Angeles Times reporting republished by Police1.
One important correction to Noir’s opening: the available reporting does not establish that the car independently identified the gun and called police without human involvement. SFGATE reported that Waymo employees became aware of the firearm.
Driverless doesn’t necessarily mean human-free. At least not yet.
The Policy Goes Beyond Illegal Guns
Waymo’s published rider rules are straightforward: “Don’t carry weapons of any kind.” The page does not list an exception for concealed-carry permit holders.
That’s where Noir’s concern kicks in. Someone can follow the law and still violate a company’s rules.
“But it still makes me concerned,” Noir says in the video, “because I’m like, wait, where does this policy begin and where does it end?”
Would a visible, legally carried handgun simply end the ride? Would staff contact the passenger first? Under what circumstances would they call police?
This incident doesn’t answer those questions. It involved allegations of illegal possession, not a documented encounter with a lawful concealed carrier.
Cameras Are Part of the Deal
Waymo isn’t hiding the presence of interior cameras. Its camera and privacy information says they can help enforce in-car rules and promote safety.
Support personnel may review footage and, in urgent circumstances, access live video. Waymo also says it may share certain information with law enforcement for legal compliance, agreement enforcement and safety.
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Noir imagines a vehicle locking a passenger inside or taking them to a police station. Those are hypothetical scenarios, not established facts about this incident.
In a separate July case involving teenagers drinking and firing water beads from a Waymo, police said the passengers were not locked inside and could leave, according to Associated Press reporting.
Where Would You Draw the Line?
Noir argues that corporate liability concerns can make lawful gun ownership harder without lawmakers passing another restriction. That’s his broader warning, not a demonstrated explanation for Waymo’s decision here.
The immediate takeaway is simpler: don’t assume a carry permit overrides a transportation service’s weapons policy.
But the discussion is worth having. A company can want a safe vehicle. A lawful carrier can want personal protection. How should the service handle that conflict?
Would you ride in a robotaxi with interior cameras and a blanket weapons ban? And should discovering a firearm automatically mean calling police, or should the circumstances matter?
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is a seasoned outdoorsman, lifelong hunter, and the kind of guy who’d rather track whitetails than scroll social media. As an editor for GunsAmerica, he’s got a sharp eye for spotting both solid gear and bad gun laws. Whether he’s deep in the woods or deep in editorial deadlines, Larry brings a no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is approach to firearms, hunting, and the great American tradition of self-reliance. If there’s a hot debate on gun rights or the latest in hunting tech, you can bet Larry’s got an opinion—and it’s probably backed up with both facts and field experience.
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A, define weapon. Back in 1979 at a Friday night high school football game, I watched my father beat a man into submission and hold him until police arrived, with a crutch while standing on one leg, his other leg in a Hoffman device, using the other crutch to keep his balance. So does that mean no crutches in Waymo? Walking cane? 1/2 liter glad Coke bottle? Where do you draw the line? You ever stop to think what 16 ounces of silver belt buckle on the end of a 36 in leather belt can do to a person’s head? Ever been kicked by someone wearing steel toe safety boots?
My father went to the Chosen Reservoir with Chesty Puller and he taught me at a young age that ANYTHING can be used as a weapon in an emergency, IE sticks and stones were breaking bones LONG BEFORE the Chinese invented gunpowder and figured out a use for it.
That is the unresolved problem with a blanket “weapons of any kind” rule. Waymo’s published rider policy does not spell out how it treats a crutch, cane, bottle, belt buckle, or work boot, and this incident only establishes what happened with a loaded rifle. Anything can be used as a weapon in the right circumstances, but that does not mean every ordinary object is automatically prohibited. The concern is that Waymo has not made that boundary clear, especially for a lawful passenger carrying an ordinary object.
You would have to be an idiot to get into a driverless car in the first place.
One of the chief problems is that “corporate liability” typically only falls in one direction. If corporations that prohibit lawful carrying and possession of firearms were, by default, legally and fully responsible for the safety and protection of all customers and employees, that equation would have enough of a potential impact on the corporate bottom line that their policies might change. The vast majority of companies in America are financial first and political second, if at all.
I’d call anUber and specify I want a live driver.
And if possible, stay out of San Francisco.
How would anyone know if one was armed or not? Do the driverless cars search the passengers? P*ss on Frisco and the whole foul crew! Glad I don’t live anywhere near that hive of scum, villainy, & weirdos.