We have a new and scary story about a Waymo vandalism situation that left a passenger helpless and in grave danger, and Mayor Daniel Lurie has reached out to the state about Waymos compounding the traffic nightmare on July 4th, and what could be done about it.

Waymo is having a bad couple of months in the press, just as the autonomous car company is in the midst of a broad expansion effort in multiple US cities. First there was a glitch that was causing Waymos in San Antonio to drive into deeply flooded streets. Then there were the construction zone troubles, which led Waymo to temporarily suspend all freeway service in May.

Then there was the grand debacle of July 4th in San Francisco, in which Waymo vehicles were widely documented blocking traffic, driving over lit fireworks, and appearing to stall en masse on a key connector road in the Presidio, making the already congested traffic situation even worse.

The July 4th situation served to confirm what city officials had already seen during the December power outage, when Waymos became a hazard and a liability on the streets in an emergency, causing gridlock because they were unable to navigate through intersections with no traffic signals.

SF Mayor Daniel Lurie wrote a letter this week to the State Secretary of Transportation Toks Omishakin, as NBC Bay Area reports, urging state leaders to take action in creating regulation around autonomous vehicles and major events or emergencies.

Lurie wrote, per the Chronicle, that on July 4th, "Waymo vehicles struggled to navigate growing volumes of vehicular traffic and pedestrians," and "By the end of the fireworks show, autonomous vehicles became immobilized in travel lanes, blocking key streets and ultimately bringing traffic to a standstill."

Lurie called on the state to provide a framework for improvement for Waymo in these kinds of situations, though he seems to have stopped short of seeking a full ban on autonomous vehicles at major events.

Lurie said that Waymo should be providing more "operational transparency" to local agencies, and that the company should take a "prove it before you deploy it" approach when it comes to handling traffic meltdowns and major traffic situations. He added that the company should have to prove that it can "keep people moving" and "respond in real-time” as breakdowns occur.

Lurie's letter comes two days after Uber penned a letter to the city pointing the finger at Waymo for creating many of the obstructions that contributed to the July 4th gridlock.

Waymo issued a statement to the Chronicle saying, "Waymo has successfully supported some of the city’s biggest events, including FIFA World Cup games, this year’s Super Bowl and Fan Fest, and NBA All-Star Weekend,” company officials wrote in a statement. “The city and Waymo share a mutual goal of providing safe and accessible transportation for visitors and residents alike. We will continue to partner with the City's agencies, collaborating with them on the learnings based on the millions of rides we have provided in San Francisco."

In a separate story in the Chronicle today, SF resident Sherman Watson shares a harrowing story of being trapped in an immobilized Waymo as two vandals violently attacked the vehicle in the Marina, late one night back in May. Watson described how, for approximately 10 minutes, he was unable to honk a horn or get customer service to move the vehicle, all while the windshield was being shattered — he was in the front passenger seat — and he thought his life was in danger.

We've seen multiple instances of vandalism of Waymos, some worse than others, but Watson's story highlights the degree to which passengers become helpless victims trapped inside these cars, and how Waymo the company hasn't much addressed this safety issue.

Watson has been trying to get Waymo to release video footage of the incident which would have been recorded by the vehicle, but they have refused, citing no proper legal justification for the request. The SFPD classified the incident only as "malicious mischief" — not even felony vandlism? — and the department can't seek a warrant for the footage from Waymo unless Waymo itself, whose vehicle was damaged, was seeking to press charges.

Last summer, one SF suspect, 45-year-old Walker Reed Quinn, was arrested and charged with felony vandalism after four documented incidents of his allegedly vandalizing Waymo vehicles in SoMa.

Related: Uber Is Blaming Waymo For July 4th Traffic Fiasco In SF

Photo via TheDamianHdez/X