Social media customers have been having a discipline day with Waymo’s autonomous vehicles, sharing movies that poke enjoyable on the driverless vehicles getting caught, appearing unpredictably, or just navigating the world slightly too awkwardly.
The newest wave of posts follows Waymo’s current expansion into Austin, the place customers are already documenting weird and irritating experiences with the service.
TikTok consumer Becky Levin Navarro posted a video on April 20 claiming a Waymo automobile trapped her and her fellow passengers on the facet of a freeway after heading within the fallacious path. “That is essentially the most insane factor. We’re in a Waymo, right here, below Mopac,” she stated. “It was going the fallacious approach, we referred to as buyer help, it stopped us proper right here and wouldn’t allow us to out of the automobile.”
The video reveals passengers chatting with buyer help via the automobile’s intercom. The agent explains the automobile can’t be moved manually, and asks for a bodily handle to relocate the car.
A Waymo spokesperson later responded: “Waymo riders at all times have the flexibility to pause their experience and exit the car when desired. Passengers can exit the car by pulling the deal with twice—as soon as to unlock and one other to open the door.”
From being referred to as “drunk robots” to inflicting site visitors jams in the midst of the night time, Waymo has change into an everyday topic of on-line trolling. Viral clips embody Waymos honking at each other within the early morning hours, jamming up intersections, and getting caught in drive-throughs. Some present police and parking enforcement stepping in to deal with wayward vehicles.
A video from San Francisco reveals a Waymo going the fallacious approach throughout a Warriors recreation as officers attempt to redirect it. “It’s not humorous. It is a very severe matter,” a police officer jokes to bystanders.
The car ultimately backs up, awkwardly swerving to keep away from a pickup truck. “See, it labored!” the officer says with a shrug. “Nonetheless slightly bizarre. I wouldn’t have went that approach, however . . .”
Waymo’s fleet has greater than tripled on California roads over the previous 12 months. A DMV report from April 11 cites 30 autonomous car incidents in 2024. Nonetheless, Waymo reports 81% fewer injury-causing crashes and 64% fewer airbag deployments in comparison with human drivers in San Francisco and Phoenix.
Regardless of its security claims, the corporate stays a favourite on-line goal. As Waymo expands into extra cities—together with a current launch in Tokyo—the web doesn’t appear able to let the driverless vehicles off the hook.
