As SF residents have come to expect, Waymo did its part to contribute to the July 4th chaos Saturday when at least two of its robotaxis drove through lit fireworks, with an empty vehicle catching fire and a passenger filming the other.

The usual barrage of illegal fireworks Saturday night prompted at least two close encounters for Waymo robotaxis, including one captured on video by passenger Rose Peterson as the vehicle continued through an exploding firework in the middle of an intersection, as KRON4 reports.

In the video, Peterson says, "Our Waymo just drove into a firework." Then she asks, "Are we on fire, dude?"

According to the Chronicle, in a separate incident, an unoccupied Waymo caught fire after driving over a firework near the 1200 block of Connecticut Street. No injuries were reported, and Waymo said it coordinated with the San Francisco Fire Department and local authorities to remove the damaged vehicle.

The robotaxis also reportedly added to the city's already severe Fourth of July gridlock following the Golden Gate Bridge fireworks show. Social media posts showed multiple Waymos stopped in traffic, much like the meltdown that occurred during a massive blackout last December, with one later loaded onto a tow truck.

The Chronicle reports that a disabled Waymo at Lake and Arguello streets left a line of other robotaxis sitting behind it instead of driving around, creating a bottleneck that stretched into the Presidio as drivers slowly realized they had to pass them.

“Behind them was a huge line of cars snaking far into the Presidio,” resident Andy Nikolaeff told the outlet. “They were slowly figuring out that the Waymos weren’t moving and overtaking them one by one, but this definitely contributed to the backup.”

Waymo attributed the disruptions to "extreme traffic congestion," saying several vehicles in northern San Francisco were affected.

“In coordination with local authorities and emergency services, our roadside assistance team worked quickly to clear our vehicles from the area,” the spokesperson said. “Our team is always evaluating ways to strengthen Waymo’s resilience in major traffic disruptions.”

Commenters on Mayor Daniel Lurie's Instagram page reportedly complained about the stopped Waymos — in addition to the flood of general complaints about hours-long traffic jams and major transit delays.

As SFist reported in December, a similar incident occurred the Saturday before Christmas last year during a massive power outage. Traffic lights in much of SF had gone dark, and the Waymo robotaxis glitched out because they couldn’t reach a human, who are oftentimes in the Philippines, to help them navigate the blackout, significantly contributing to the traffic gridlock and prompting a probe by Supervisor Mahmood.

Related: Waymos Freeze in Place, Snarl Traffic En Masse During Saturday’s Citywide Power Outage

Image: Screenshot from video