NBC News – Driverless Waymo vehicle goes through tense police stop in L.A.
Video shows the Waymo passing a white pickup pulled over in Los Angeles by several police cruisers with their lights flashing as the suspected driver lies on the ground.
See original article by Andrew Blankstein and Corky Siemaszko at NBC News
LOS ANGELES — This trip was Waymo dangerous than it needed to be.
The robotaxi operated by Waymo was driven just a few feet away from a Los Angeles police felony stop downtown following a vehicle chase early Sunday — a brief brush with danger that was caught on video by incredulous onlookers and ended with nobody hurt, according to video and police.
The driverless vehicle could be seen in the video making a left turn and passing a white truck pulled over at the corner by several police cruisers with their lights flashing.
The suspected driver was face down on the street at the time, the video showed.
Immediately, police officers could be heard yelling at the vehicle to get away.
But instead of splitting, the Waymo appeared to slow down briefly and signal it was turning right.
“Go to your left! Go to your left!” a police officer was heard yelling at the wayward Waymo. “Go through.”
Meanwhile, the man on the ground looked up to see what was going on. Police are then seen in the video approaching him with their weapons drawn.
The Los Angeles Police Department said the incident took place about 3:40 a.m. at Broadway and First Street, outside Times Mirror Square and downtown’s federal courthouse.
The department said the vehicle’s proximity and failure to avoid passing the guns-drawn traffic stop did not influence officers’ tactics. It said police subsequently shut down the intersection temporarily, as is customary for such a situation.
LAPD’s Traffic Coordination Division develops protocols and polices regarding driverless vehicles. It’s not clear whether it would investigate. The police department said the division is in regular contact with Waymo as the technology evolves.
Waymo said the entire encounter lasted barely 15 seconds.
“Safety is our highest priority at Waymo, both for people who choose to ride with us and with whom we share the streets,” a Waymo spokesperson said. “When we encounter unusual events like this one, we learn from them as we continue improving road safety and operating in dynamic cities.”
Waymo is owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet. It currently operates in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area and Phoenix, according to its website, and is expanding to Miami and Orlando, Florida; Dallas; Houston; San Antonio; San Diego; Las Vegas; and Detroit.
In July, the company said it had passed more than 100 million miles without a human behind the wheel and not one fatality.
But there have been several snafus since the since the service opened to the public in November 2024. And the company has gotten some unwanted attention.
Five Waymo vehicles were torched in June by anti-ICE protesters in Los Angeles.
In July, a cyber-prankster reportedly sent 50 driverless Waymo vehicles down a dead-end street in San Francisco, another incident that went viral.
Then in September, police in the San Francisco suburb of San Bruno were conducting a DUI operation when a self-driving Waymo made an illegal turn in front of them.
The police were unable to give anybody a ticket because, well, there was nobody to ticket. But they contacted the company, which promised to fix the “glitch.”
In November, Waymo announced it would begin offering rides on freeways after having previously limited its robotaxis to city streets.
See original article by Andrew Blankstein and Corky Siemaszko at NBC News
