A Los Angeles man said he recently missed his flight home after getting stuck on the way to the airport in a Waymo that kept making circles in the parking lot.
LA tech entrepreneur Mike Johns posted a video three weeks ago on LinkedIn of his call to a customer representative at Waymo to report that the car kept going around and around and that he was worried about missing his flight.
“I found a flight to catch. Why does this thing go in a circle? I feel dizzy,” said Johns. “It goes around the parking lot. I put on my seat belt. I can't get out of the car. Is this hacked? What's going on? I feel like I'm in the movies. Is someone playing a joke on me?”
The customer service representative told Johns to open his Waymo app and he would try to tow the car, but it seemed like it was having trouble stopping the car.
Johns was returning home from Scottsdale, Ariz., according to a CBS report, which also noted that Johns “almost” missed his flight.
On his social media account, Johns, who also works in AI programs, according to his LinkedIn profile, said that Waymo did not follow him after the incident.
“You would think that by now Waymo would be emailing, texting or calling to follow up,” he wrote. “No, customer service is automated and driven by AI.”
Waymo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The ride-hailing company has been a regular on the streets of San Francisco for years, and it recently opened its services to all passengers after first rolling out a pilot program to select users. Robotaxis launched in LA last fall.
Waymo's mission is to reduce injuries and deaths on the road through self-driving technology, and riders and supporters of the service have praised it as a safe and convenient alternative to human drivers.
But there were also technical hiccups and safety concerns when the company rolled out its robotaxis in several cities.
A man in downtown LA on Thursday allegedly tried to hijack a Waymo car and then drove off. The police arrested the man after they finally got him out of the car.
It has also been reported that passengers were harassed by pedestrians who blocked the car's path and stopped the car.
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