Two teenagers were consuming alcohol and shooting water beads at other vehicles from inside a self-driving Waymo, which delivered prompt justice

A self-driving Waymo vehicle took matters into its own hands on Monday afternoon by alerting the authorities to two teenage passengers who were misbehaving during their ride, Kron 4 News reported. The 15-year-old passengers were cruising around San Mateo in the autonomous taxi when they decided to start causing trouble.

While riding in the driverless vehicle, the teenagers were consuming alcohol and using a toy gun to shoot Orbeez water beads at other cars. The vehicle’s internal monitoring system caught them in the act. A Waymo employee who was remotely watching the ride through the car’s internal cameras quickly realized something was wrong. The employee told the teens that the vehicle had to stop because of mechanical issues, but that was just a clever ruse to get them to pull over.

Unbeknownst to the passengers, the Waymo employee had already contacted the San Mateo Police Department to report that someone was discharging a gun from the vehicle. According to police, witnesses saw what they thought was a real firearm. “They saw what they described as a firearm in the vehicle, described it black in color, and at some point believed that the passengers were firing,” said San Mateo Police Department spokesperson Jeanine Luna.

The police response was swift and serious

Officers performed a high-risk traffic stop in a shopping center parking lot after Waymo disabled the vehicle in a safe location. Photos from the scene show five officers and a police dog surrounding the car. “We conducted a high risk traffic stop. Waymo did disable the vehicle for us in a location that we were able to set up safely. And at that point, we pulled them out of the vehicle, searched the vehicle, and then we found what we determined to be Orbeez,” Luna added.

The San Mateo Police Department later shared a statement on social media regarding the incident. “After calling us and stopping the car, we were able to safely remove both subjects and determined they were shooting Orbeez from the car as they sipped on afternoon libations while being chauffeured around town in the driverless vehicle,” the department wrote.

The police also took the opportunity to explain why these activities were so dangerous for everyone involved. “While there was some ingenuity to this scheme, toy guns, water guns, and BB guns all pose real dangers, especially to an untrained eye. The simple handling of them can cause fear in passerby’s or to those who don’t get a good look. Shooting projectiles at speed can cause real damage. And lest not forget the underage drinking. All bad ideas today for these two.”

The two 15-year-old passengers were detained by police before being released to their parents. The district attorney’s office is now reviewing the case to decide if any formal charges will be filed.