In a startling incident, a video has surfaced showing a passenger making a quick exit from a Waymo self-driving car that had come to a stop on the tracks, right in the path of an approaching train.
This occurred in Phoenix on Wednesday, when a Waymo vehicle found itself stuck on the light rail tracks, prompting passengers to abandon the car in a rush for their safety, as reported by KPHO.
Footage recorded by an onlooker depicts the car still navigating the tracks beside another train after the passengers had disembarked. The person filming remarked, “Oh, there’s a Waymo on the tracks. What an idiot. Here comes the train,” highlighting the tense situation.
Waymo, the self-driving service that began in Phoenix, has now expanded its operations to cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, and Atlanta. They regularly update their routes and technologies, boasting 29 cameras in each vehicle.
However, the site of the incident was under construction, and the light rail line had only recently been installed—factors that experts suggest might have interfered with the vehicle’s operational system. Andrew Maynard, a professor focused on emerging technology and innovation at ASU, expressed some disappointment in the vehicle’s performance during the incident. “It clearly made the wrong decision and ended up in a difficult situation,” he stated, although he maintains that self-driving cars generally outperform human drivers in safety. “They don’t face the distractions that human drivers do,” he noted.
Valley Metro, responsible for regional transport in the Phoenix area, confirmed that this event took place during rush hour. They stated that around 9 a.m., a Valley Metro employee noticed the Waymo vehicle on the tracks near Southern and Central avenues, and the operations center was promptly notified. To manage the situation without causing major disruptions, trains were quickly rerouted, and the area was cleared within about 15 minutes.
