Police in San Mateo, California, recently detained two teenagers after receiving a report of illegal activity from Waymo, a company that provides self-driving car services.

加州聖馬特奧警方最近在收到提供自動駕駛車服務的公司 Waymo 舉報有非法活動後，拘留了兩名青少年。

The incident began when Waymo's monitoring systems detected two 15-year-old passengers drinking alcohol and using a toy gun inside the vehicle. Consequently, the company remotely stopped the car and alerted the San Mateo Police Department. Officers performed a high-risk traffic stop and detained the minors, who were later released to their parents. Although the weapon was only an Orbeez toy gun, authorities emphasized that such items can easily be mistaken for real firearms.

事件始於 Waymo 的監控系統偵測到兩名 15 歲乘客在車內飲酒並使用玩具槍。因此，該公司遠端停止了車輛，並通知聖馬特奧警局。警員執行了高風險交通攔截並拘留了這兩名未成年人，隨後將其交還給父母。儘管該武器僅是一把 Orbeez 玩具槍，但當局強調，此類物品很容易被誤認為真實槍支。

This event highlights a growing conflict regarding the use of surveillance technology in autonomous transport. Waymo vehicles use many sensors and cameras to ensure safety and maintenance; however, using this data for police work has raised concerns. For example, after a hit-and-run investigation in Los Angeles, some people began to view these ride-hailing fleets as mobile surveillance tools. This feeling contributed to the vandalism of vehicles during 2025 protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

此事件凸顯了關於自動駕駛交通中監控技術使用的衝突日益增加。Waymo 車輛使用許多感測器和攝影機以確保安全與維護；然而，將這些數據用於警方執法引起了關注。例如，在洛杉磯的一起肇事逃逸調查後，一些人開始將這些網約車車隊視為行動監控工具。這種感受導致 2025 年抗議移民及海關執法局期間發生車輛遭蓄意破壞的事件。

Data shows that governments frequently request user information from these companies. Google reported that in the first half of 2025, it received about 290,000 requests and shared information in over 80% of those cases. Experts are divided on this issue. Some argue that this monitoring is similar to a human driver watching passengers, whereas others claim that the lack of clear consent and the collection of too much data are serious ethical problems. Furthermore, the public remains cautious, as Pew Research Center data shows that 71% of Americans feel uncomfortable with driverless cars.

數據顯示，政府經常向這些公司請求用戶資訊。Google 報告指出，在 2025 年上半年，共收到約 29 萬次請求，且在超過 80% 的案例中分享了資訊。專家對此議題看法分歧。有人認為這種監控與人類駕駛員觀察乘客相似，而另一些人則聲稱缺乏明確同意以及收集過多數據是嚴重的倫理問題。此外，公眾仍保持謹慎，皮尤研究中心（Pew Research Center）的數據顯示，71% 的美國人對無人駕駛車感到不安。

The San Mateo incident shows that society is still trying to balance privacy rules as self-driving technology becomes a part of city life.

聖馬特奧事件表明，隨著自動駕駛技術成為城市生活的一部分，社會仍在嘗試平衡隱私規則。