---
title: "Waymo Workers: People Keep Injecting Drugs in Self-Driving Cars"
description: "Waymo workers have told The Verge that passengers keep shooting up in the company's self-driving cars and leaving their used needles behind."
date: "2020-02-05"
modified: "2020-02-05"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/waymo-people-injecting-drugs-self-driving-cars"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
  - "Self-Driving Vehicles"
tags:
  - "drugs"
  - "Self-driving cars"
  - "the digest"
  - "waymo"
---

# Waymo Workers: People Keep Injecting Drugs in Self-Driving Cars

![Waymo workers have told The Verge that passengers keep shooting up in the company's self-driving cars and leaving their used needles behind.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/waymo-workers-people-keep-injecting-drugs-self-driving-cars.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Image via NeedPix/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Riding Dirty

In 2018, self-driving car company Waymo launched [Waymo One](<https://futurism.com/waymo-one-early-rider-autonomous-vehicle>), a rideshare service à la Uber or Lyft but with autonomous cars. In December 2019, it took the program to the next level by offering some passengers rides in Arizona cars [without safety drivers](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/waymo-safety-drivers-autonomous-taxis>) behind the wheel.

Now, in a trashy twist, Waymo workers have [told *The Verge*](<https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/5/21123049/waymo-self-driving-cars-workers-vendor-contracts-benefits-needles>) that passengers keep injecting drugs in the self-driving cars — and leaving their used needles behind.

## Shot Down

Anonymous Waymo sources told *The Verge* they felt like the company didn't do enough to ensure the [safety of its workers](<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/31/us/waymo-self-driving-cars-arizona-attacks.html>).

They specifically noted that workers had found used hypodermic needles in the self-driving cars while cleaning them between passengers — and that Waymo didn't seem all that concerned about the discovery.

"I know a lot of the times \[the workers are\] just told to pick it up and clean it out and go on with their day when, you know, *that’s a needle*," one source told *The Verge*.

## Seriously?

A Waymo spokesperson told *The Verge* via a statement that the company was "only aware of a few incidents where needles were found in cars and that supervisors had been trained for those situations."

The spokesperson went on to suggest that "the needles may have contained a harmless substance like insulin, rather than illegal drugs" — which, to be fair, are also a potential health hazard for workers.

**READ MORE:** [Waymo Workers Complain About Cuts to Benefits and Needles in Self-Driving Cars](<https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/5/21123049/waymo-self-driving-cars-workers-vendor-contracts-benefits-needles>) \[*The Verge*\]

**More on Waymo:** *[Waymo Is Taking the Safety Drivers out of Its Autonomous Taxis](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/waymo-safety-drivers-autonomous-taxis>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)