A burglar used a Waymo to steal yoga clothes in San Francisco — and got away with it

A burglar used a Waymo while stealing yoga clothes in San Francisco this past January, and police have still not caught them.

That may sound counterintuitive given the widespread concern that Waymo vehicles and other robotaxis are rolling surveillance machines. But this curious case, reported by the San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday, sheds some new light on how Waymo handles the footage captured by its cars.

While Waymo does capture and store ride footage, it’s not known how long that data is stored. What is sure, according to the report, is that it was gone “by the time the search warrant was filed in April.” Even more interesting is the detail that police were not able to identify the burglar through exterior camera footage because it had been “blurred for privacy reasons.”

The Waymo account data also apparently did not help. The burglar took the Waymo ride to a yoga studio called Hot 8 Yoga, where they entered, took the clothes, and got back in the robotaxi, according to the business’ own security footage. But the account information Waymo turned over to police as part of the search warrant “didn’t lead police to the suspect,” according to the Chronicle.

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