Incident Overview
An autonomous vehicle from Waymo was seen driving the wrong way on a street in Austin, Texas, as captured in a video shared on Reddit.
The footage, recorded on Monday, shows the Waymo vehicle approaching the videographer’s car while traveling on the incorrect side of the road. The autonomous car then turns into a parking lot at a Valero gas station.
The Waymo vehicle was reportedly driving against traffic on a frontage road adjacent to U.S. Interstate 35, according to local reports.
In response to the incident, Waymo, which is part of Alphabet Inc., emphasized that “safety is our highest priority at Waymo, both for people who choose to ride with us and with whom we share the streets. We take situations like this seriously and are committed to improving road safety through our ongoing learnings and experience.”
As of September, Waymo vehicles have traveled over 6.3 million miles in Austin without human intervention. Their latest safety report indicates that these vehicles experienced 81% fewer injury-related crashes and 94% fewer incidents requiring airbag deployment compared to human drivers.
The Austin Independent School District had previously requested that Waymo halt operations within school zones during times when children might be boarding or disembarking from buses due to previous incidents involving stopped buses. Although Waymo did not cease operations, it collaborated with district officials to enhance its system’s performance regarding school bus interactions and related traffic laws.
