'Taxi prank' that costs $5,000: Waymo rider's viral stunt
In October 2025, 23-year-old Riley Walz and a group of 50 people pulled off a viral prank in San Francisco by coordinating 50 people to hail Waymo robotaxis at the same time.
The driverless cars all showed up at a dead-end street, found nobody waiting, and awkwardly idled for about 10 minutes before leaving—charging each account a $5 no-show fee.
Walz's stunt was a physical version of DDoS attack
Walz's stunt was basically a physical version of a DDoS attack, overwhelming the robotaxi system with unused ride requests.
The scene drew laughs from participants and even got reactions from regular drivers passing by.
The prank put spotlight on how easy it is to mess
The prank put a spotlight on how easy it is to mess with autonomous ride-hailing tech.
Waymo quickly blocked ride requests in the area for the night, but this episode shows that as self-driving cars become more common, creative pranks—and new challenges—are bound to follow.