He had a plane to catch, but his trip to the airport got him stuck in a parking lot, going around in circles.
That was the experience of one passenger who used Waymo, the Alphabet-owned self-driving taxi service that launched in San Francisco last year and expanded its fleet to Los Angeles and Phoenix.
The passenger, Mike Johns, recorded the vehicle spinning in a parking lot in Scottsdale, Arizona, on December 9, and posted a video of the circular situation on Linkedin.
The video includes Johns’ conversation with the support of the cyclist. A company representative can be heard apologizing as Johns asks if the car has been hacked and wonders if someone is playing a prank on him.
When the representative asks her to access her app to help resolve the issue, Johns wonders why she can’t take care of the vehicle herself.
“You don’t need my phone,” he says.
“I have no option to control the car,” he can be heard responding.
The incident lasted about five minutes, according to the company, and Johns was eventually taken to the airport, where he said he did not miss his flight.
According to Waymo, Johns was not charged for his trip. The issue that caused its vehicle to drive in loops has since been fixed through a regularly scheduled software update, the company said.
