A stranger-than-fiction incident of robot friendly fire in San Francisco left three Waymos stuck twiddling their proverbial thumbs on a dead end street.
Moments before, two of the highly advanced robotaxis apparently meandered down the road and collided into each other, blocking all traffic. A third Waymo, it seemed, had also followed the others down the road and got stuck behind the chaos.
Footage taken by a bystander captured the aftermath of the incident. One Waymo straddles the street sideways, locked into touching bumpers with its twin that looked like it was traveling up the street before the collision. The third wheel watches from about a dozen feet away. All the while, the cars emit the weird back-up hum that EVs make at low speeds, which evokes something between “angelic aura” and “levitating UFO.”
“It’s like a Waymo standoff,” a bystander can be heard remarking in one of the videos, complaining that they couldn’t leave in their car. “I’m just trying to get out of there, but…”
The incident took place at Kearney and Vallejo street in North beach, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. It appears that one Waymo tried to turn around when it realized there was no outlet, during which it was struck by one of its own ilk.
A followup video shows a man in a high-vis vest who appears to be a Waymo employee open the driver door of the sideways car, climb inside, and manually back the vehicle up. Moments later, the other Waymo begins to drive itself away, before stopping again.
Waymo officials told SF Chronicle that the first two robotaxis made “minor contact” while trying to execute multi-points turns to exit the cul-de-sac.
The company’s self-driving cabs have had their fair share of traffic contretemps. The cars have been caught endlessly circling roundabouts, blazing down the wrong side of the street, and blowing through an active police standoff. The robotaxis are also known for other curious habits, like congregating in parking lots where they honk all night as they struggle to squeeze past each other, or exhibiting stalker-like behavior by repeatedly returning to linger in front of a random family’s home.
Some mishaps have been more severe. Last week, a Waymo ran over a dog that was reportedly playing in the street, in an incident that a passenger who was riding in the robotaxi said left his children crying while a crowd gathered. The accident came just weeks after another Waymo robotaxi killed a beloved bodega cat known to San Francisco locals as Kit Kat, sparking outrage in the community and becoming a national news story. Wherever they may roam, the robotaxis remain controversial.
Though the company, at least according to its own data, boasts a stellar safety record, its tech is clearly far from perfect. And perhaps it’s now pushing it safety record to its limit, as the Wall Street Journal reported last week that Waymo had tinkered with its cars’ software so they drive more aggressively. Looks like that push is already bearing fruit.
More on robotaxis: Waymo Forced to Halt Overnight Operations As Punishment for Causing Nonstop Ruckus
