A tech entrepreneur found himself in a bizarre and frustrating predicament when a Waymo driverless taxi, meant to take him to the airport, ended up endlessly circling a Scottsdale, Arizona parking lot instead. Mike Johns, who documented the ordeal on LinkedIn, shared his exasperation as the situation unfolded.
“I have a flight to catch, why is this thing going in a circle?” Johns asked Waymo customer service in the video. “I’m going dizzy.” With his seatbelt fastened and no apparent way to exit the vehicle, Johns wondered aloud whether the taxi had been hacked.
Fortunately, Johns eventually received a refund and managed to make his flight, but the incident underscores persistent issues with robotaxi technology, which despite years of development, continues to falter in real-world scenarios.
“My Waymo experience sucked,” Johns later wrote. “I’ll keep it old-fashioned and just Lyft or Uber.”
Waymo, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, has been expanding its robotaxi services in cities like Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The company has ambitious plans to extend its reach to Austin, Miami, and even Tokyo. However, these expansions come with their share of complications. From vehicles stalling in roundabouts to colliding with delivery robots, the technology has often proven unreliable, requiring human intervention.
Johns’ experience is a stark reminder of the challenges that remain. “A half-baked product and nobody meeting the customer, the consumers, in the middle,” he said in a CBS News interview. He described the incident as emblematic of a “human-less” digital world that prioritizes technology over meaningful customer engagement.
Waymo’s competitors have also faced difficulties. General Motors’ robotaxi division, Cruise, shut down in December following several alarming safety incidents. Similarly, a New York Times report noted that robotaxi services frequently rely on human operators to address issues, highlighting the limitations of current autonomous driving systems.
Even beyond technical failures, robotaxis face other hurdles. A Forbes study found that Waymo rides are not only pricier than traditional ride-hailing services like Uber or Lyft but also take twice as long on average. These inefficiencies, combined with incidents like Johns’, raise questions about whether robotaxis can truly outcompete human-driven rides in convenience, safety, and reliability.
