Waymo Robotaxi traps passengers in endless parking lots

Man worried he’d miss his flight from Los Angeles as Waymo customer support took time to resolve the issue

Waymo continues to lead the way in the development and launch of robotaxis, but that doesn’t mean it has perfected the technology. Not only did its self-driving cars spark investigations into crashes by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), but last August, dozens of people made a strange habit of gathering in a San Francisco parking lot and driving in the middle of the night Honk the horn. Last month, one of them took a passenger on a rather dizzying ride around Los Angeles.

Last December, Mike Johns ordered a Waymo to take him to the airport, where he had to catch a flight. It picked him up, but then continued to drive in circles in the parking lot instead of actually taking him where he needed to go.

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Worried that he would miss his flight, Johns contacted Waymo customer support, who asked him what happened. “It’s circling the parking lot,” he told the operator. “I’ve got my seatbelt on but I can’t get out of the car. Is this hacked? What’s going on? Why is this thing going in circles? I’m dizzy.”

At one stage, a Waymo operator can be heard asking Johns if he has the Waymo app installed on his phone, and instructing him to click on the “My Trips” button in the lower left corner, presumably to pause the trip. Johns responded that Waymo itself should be able to take over the car without using his phone.

After driving around the same traffic island for five minutes, Waymo’s team successfully regained control of the Jaguar I-Pace. The troubled robot taxi finally breaks out of the loop and delivers Johns to the airport, though it doesn’t leave him shocked and dismayed.

In an interview with CBS News, Waymo said the issue was determined to be a software glitch and assured everyone that the issue has been resolved to prevent future loop events. To its credit, the company didn’t charge Johns for the ride.

“Where’s the empathy? Where’s the human connection?” John said after the strange experience. “This is another example of today’s digital world. It’s a half-baked product with no one in the middle to meet the customers, the consumers.”

H/T to Road & Track