More method than they negotiated.
Reports say passengers using the popular Driver Res Taxi app were locked in a completely self-driving vehicle as they parked in the middle of traffic on “one of Austin’s most frightening streets.”
Waymo Ride-Hailers in Texas City were driven by a “Black Mirror” episode when a self-driving car stopped in a merge lane under the Mopac Expressway and locked the vehicle for a few minutes to bubble up. Cron.
“We kept saying, ‘We’re on the highway, let’s move the car,'” passenger Becky Navarro said in a video that has earned over 500,000 views. Tiktok.
“The car kept ringing us, but it didn’t move. It didn’t put us out,” Navarro said while walking with fellow passengers on the side of the road with a dysfunctional car in the background.
In the caption to the video, Navarro, who was released from the car about five minutes later, claimed that Waymo had driven past his desired destination towards the downtown Austin area.
Later in the video, the car appears to wake up from sleep, passing two former passengers, walking along the side of the road.
“For those who don’t know, this is one of the most frightening paths in Austin. Parking in MOPAC is a death trap. This is my fear,” wrote a commentator for Animation’s Tiktok, Kron reported.
Navarro claimed that the car only unlocked the door when the self-proclaimed “Tiktok Queen” threatened customer support by making its live appearance on social media apps, but Waymo, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., claimed the whole issue was user error.
“During their ride, passengers in the video pressed the ‘pullover’ button and the vehicle was pulled to the sidewalk 30 miles of the road,” a Waymo official said in a comment to the post.
“Riders could always be safely out and the rider support team never remotely unlocked their doors,” added Waymo.
The company further said passengers can board and leave the vehicle at any time.
However, Waymo has prior problems allegedly locking passengers inside unmanned cars operating in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin.
Tech entrepreneur Mike Johns took a Waymo driverless taxi to Scottsdale Airport in Arizona earlier this year, glitching out in circles even when the escorts weren’t heading to his destination.
“I have a flight to catch. Why is this in a circle? I feel dizzy,” Johns told a representative at Waymo Customer Service. Videos posted on LinkedIn.
Company staff were eventually able to remotely control the vehicle, allowing LA natives to return home.
Remote control of Waymo vehicles has become more convenient for other occasions. LACOPS has closed the escape unmanned vehicle that burglars welcomed after stealing the grocery store.
