Autonomous taxi freaked out due to basic construction obstacle
A Phoenix, Arizona, police officer pulled over a driverless vehicle last month in a strange encounter captured on the cop’s body camera.
NEW: Phoenix police officer pulls over a driverless Waymo car for driving on the wrong side of the road leading the nonexistent driver to roll the windows down to speak with the police.
This is hilarious.
Waymo has since released a statement, apparently blaming the incident… pic.twitter.com/JKF2JSEGCu
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 4, 2024
The car stopped by the law enforcement officer was a Waymo autonomous taxi that was driving into oncoming traffic, according to the cop.
When the officer approached the vehicle, the window rolled down and he was connected to “rider support” where an employee was able to address the situation through the car’s computer system.
“So, your car here drove into oncoming lanes traffic,” the policeman explained, adding, “There’s a little bit of a construction area and it went into opposing lanes of traffic, which is real bad.”
The employee said they’d “look into” why the car apparently malfunctioned.
Another officer approached the first cop out of curiosity and laughed at the bizarre situation.
The cop who pulled over the Waymo car told the other policeman the vehicle was going the wrong way and that it took off “through the intersection” when he turned on his squad car’s lights to pull it over.
The company issued a statement to AZ Central following the incident stating the vehicle “encountered inconsistent construction signage,” causing it to go into the wrong driving lane.
Next, the car “was blocked from navigating back into the correct lane” for 30 seconds and was pulled over by the police officer.
“In an effort to clear the intersection, the Waymo vehicle proceeded forward a short distance and pulled into the next available parking lot,” Waymo added.
One troubling issue is that since there was no driver, the police department couldn’t ticket the company for breaking the law.
“UNABLE TO ISSUE CITATION TO COMPUTER,” the Phoenix PD dispatch records read.
As more autonomous vehicles hit the streets of American cities, more problematic situations like this will undoubtedly arise.
