Waymo Pulled Its Cars From the Freeway After One Fled Police With Horrified Couple on Board

[highplainsdem]

https://futurism.com/advanced-transport/waymo-pulled-cars-freeway-fled-police

We’ve seen Waymo’s fleet of autonomous taxis cause plenty of mayhem on public streets. They like to ignore bike lanes, drive the wrong way down busy roads, and even rely on remote workers in the Philippines when they get stumped.

Riding them can also quickly turn into a terrifying near-death experience, as one couple in San Francisco found out firsthand. As CBS News reports, the couple was looking to get home in the Mission District only for their Waymo cab to veer off a highway and accelerate to terrifying speeds while driving down a construction lane.

-snip-

In the last two months alone, Waymo’s vehicles have been observed driving through flooded streets and speeding through construction zones, as USA Today reports.

The latest incident also proved scary enough for Waymo to pull its cars from freeways in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Miami altogether as it works to “integrate recent technical learnings into our software,” according to a statement to CBS.

-snip-

More at the Futurism link above, and at CBS News - https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/san-francisco-waymo-rider-construction-zone-police-chase/ - and USA Today: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/california/2026/05/26/waymo-suspends-all-freeway-rides-including-san-francisco-and-los-angeles-due-to-safety-concerns/90261233007/ .

Thought I should post this after an OP yesterday about Tesla's self-driving mode being dangerous got some replies praising Waymo.

[Norrrm]

1. "technical learnings"... Sounds like 'voice of experience'.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. When you get into a "self-driving" vehicle, you become a beta tester.

Don't kid yourself that it's any better than that.

[orthoclad]

16. And all other people using the road

who are in the path of the lethally experimental car. Human involuntary experimental subjects more than beta testers, who generally at least have informed consent.

I'll have to make a separate comment about this, see below.

[eppur_se_muova]

17. Absolutely agree ! I've said similar things in the past, I was just struck by the idea of ANYONE choosing a Waymo.

It just seems obvious that it's Waymo' dangerous.

[orthoclad]

18. Poiint!

[magicarpet]

3. TechBros are rushing to get Artificial Inteligence behind the wheel in cars, local + long distance trucks, and busses.

The paid driver becomes their computer chip.

Jobs,.. ? What jobs.... ? Sorry we don't need blue collar laborers here any more.

[orangecrush]

11. Technazis

Bros is far too friendly a word for people who want us dead.

[dickthegrouch]

4. What? The programs can't recognize the flashing lights of a police car behind the car and pull over?

Like the LAW says it has to?
And then recognize that the vehicle with the flashing lights is either still behind it and that it must therefore stay stationary and release the locks for any passengers, or recognize that those flashing lights have now passed it, and it needs to re-evaluate the safety of pulling out again into the traffic?
Are the people who programmed these things completely unaware of the law?
How incompetent are the programmers????
What kind of script kiddie does this????
Stopping is a part of driving!
Trying to escape by speeding? NEVER good!
Read the f'ing drivers handbook, as well as the entire California Vehicular Code and understand them, then program ALL of those requirements and clarifications into a TEST vehicle whose prime directives include "STOP if the decision is too complicated and call for immediate assistance", plus Asimov's three laws of robotics.

[Quanto Magnus]

7. I work as a motorcycle funeral escort in the Bay Area

I was working a funeral, when I had an instersection shut down to allow the procession through. There was a Waymo vehicle. Even with all my strobe lights on (red/amber - I can't use blues), honking my air horn, waving my arms.... the Waymo just started going and drove right around me. I was lucky the processioners were paying attention and came to a stop when the Waymo started going.

I did contact them and the person I communicated with, definitely listened and after review of video agreed they needed to make a programing change. I will give them credit for that. I think Waymo is better than the others we've dealt with in the Bay Area, but they still have a long ways to go.

I'm really surprised it didn't stop for the police. They will pull over for emergency vehicles running lights/sirens. Something with their 'if/then' programming is clearly incomplete with regards to emergency lights.

[eppur_se_muova]

19. Don't some recent vehicles have a built-in "remote kill switch" that's supposedly available only to law enforcement ?

It would seem an autonomous vehicle would have that, AND a backup remote kill mechanism.

[TalenaGor]

5. instinct is instinct lol

[MerryBlooms]

6. Maybe passengers were watching latest episode of COPS

And AI just ran with the vibe of the guests?

[Pisces]

8. I live in Phoenix and we have had Waymo's for a few years. For the few mistakes the cars have made, I can say

they are not a nuisance. If I could buy one for my elderly mother I would. I prefer my college daughters take a Waymo vs an unknown male driver late at night. I don’t like Elon Musk but I can not dispute the Waymo’s advantages.

[Dave says]

24. Musk?

Waymo was developed by Google and is a subsidiary of Alphabet. Elon Musk is not involved at all.

[NBachers]

9. Next we'll have KTLA news choppers following Waymo police chases thru the streets of Los Angeles.

[mdbl]

10. So AI has a driving record and felony eluding

tsk tsk.

[orangecrush]

12. Bad bot bad bot

Whatcha gonna do?

[Initech]

13. You think maybe self-driving autonomous cars weren't exactly ready for prime time?

Although, a high speed freeway chase in a self-driving car is the most LA thing ever.

[orangecrush]

14. ...

[Disaffected]

15. Why don't these things have an emergency stop button

that a passenger can punch if the vehicle goes crazy?

ETA: Shoot first, ask questions later...
................

Conversation with Gemini
Do Waymo vehicles have an emergency stop button?

No, Waymo vehicles do not have a physical "emergency stop" or "kill switch" button inside the passenger cabin.

The rationale behind omitting a traditional emergency brake or instant-stop button is safety. If a panicked passenger hits a sudden kill-switch while the vehicle is traveling at high speeds or navigating heavy traffic, it could trigger a catastrophic collision with other vehicles.

Instead, Waymo provides a tiered system for passengers to stop a ride or request immediate help:

1. The "Pull Over" Feature
Passengers can initiate a controlled stop through the in-car touchscreens or directly via the Waymo mobile app:

How it works: When activated, this commands the vehicle to find the nearest legally compliant and safe area (like a parking lot or a sidewalk curb) to pull over and bring the car to a smooth stop.

Location: While previously a prominent standalone button on the interface, the "Pull Over" function is nested within the vehicle's secondary menu options or accessed through the app.

2. The Passenger Support Button
Every vehicle features a distinct Support button on the physical console or touchscreen. Pressing this instantly connects the cabin to a live Waymo Rider Support agent via the internal intercom, who can issue teleassist instructions to the vehicle or contact emergency services.

3. Built-In Redundancies

Door Detection: The Waymo software is programmed to immediately brake and stop if a car door is unlatched or opened while in motion.

Collision Response: If the vehicle's onboard sensors detect a collision, it is designed to come to an immediate halt, automatically unlock the doors, and notify the central support team to coordinate with first responders.

........................

So, why did the passengers in the OP not apparently activate some of this?

[mwmisses4289]

20. Good. Now keep them off the road. Period.

[xuplate]

21. I had a brother in law that drove like that

He ended up dead in car crash—fortunately he was alone and no other cars were involved.

[eppur_se_muova]

22. These should NOT be allowed on public roads until they are exhaustively tested and certified.

Corps are getting their way because they know which palms in Congress respond to greasing.

Our public roads are NOT a Petri dish. (Psssst: there's a cartoon or magazine cover lurking in that statement ...)

[littlemissmartypants]

23. It might sound cold, but...

[BWdem4life]

25. That was waymo excitement than they counted on

All they needed was a lyft

[Pinback]

26. Atlanta is crawling with these stupid things.

If I’m out for a walk and one approaches, I get away from the street and wait for it to go past. No way would I ever cross in front of one.

If I’m driving, I assume it could do something idiotic at any moment. (Same with cars with drivers, come to think of it.)

I’m sure they’re safe the vast majority of the time, but if they were to go off script they could go really wacko, it seems — as in this police chase scenario.

[House of Roberts]

27. A couple of weeks ago

there was an article about a Waymo in Atlanta that drove into a flooded street. Fortunately it was unoccupied at the time.

[Pinback]

29. Yep, read about that.

That could easily turn into a Bad Day for a passenger.

[orthoclad]

28. We had to submit questionnaires to an ethics panel

because they were to be submitted to human subjects. Questionnaires! At least our subjects had informed consent, even to something so innocuous.

Billionaires get to dump their money machines on an uninformed and unconsenting public, putting pedestrians, bikers, and other drivers at lethal risk, so that they can "train" their AIs on real-world events, some of which have lethal outcomes. When did the entire public of a polity subjected to these Frankencars give informed consent? That's not something you can offload on the old "we're a republic not a democracy" bullcrap".

Every denizen of a district where the Frankencars are being experimented with should have their human right to give informed consent to being used as an experimental subject, especially since it's to the profit of a very few.