A Waymo self-driving car has accidentally ended up on the tracks of a light-rail line in the city of Phoenix, Arizona.
The driver vacated the vehicle safely, but as revealed in an onlooker's recording of the event, the Waymo kept driving along the train tracks, raising alarms about safety and coordination accuracy.
And because the driver had already sensed the perilous moment and exited the vehicle, there was nobody to subsequently intervene and cancel the trip.
News outlet First Alert 6 reported that the railway was constructed just last year, which is why the car confused it with a road.
Artificial intelligence (AI) systems are typically programmed to learn from past mistakes, rather than anticipating future changes. And in the case of expanding cities like Phoenix, construction zones and new layouts are known weak points for driverless GPS operating systems.
In this case, the passenger, being untrained, would not have been expected to take a measured intervention, especially in such a high-stress, fight-or-flight situation.
Reputation at stake
Even though there was theoretically no harm done, such an incident risks damaging Waymo’s reputation.
There’s already been a couple of unfavorable incidents recently, even if it’s debatable whether Waymo was squarely at fault for either of them.
Curious what others think about this story? Contribute your thoughts to the debate below.
Just before Christmas, Waymo robotaxi passengers had their ride halted mid-journey when the vehicles froze up due to a significant power blackout in San Francisco.
Also, in San Bruno, California, a driverless Waymo machine was pulled over and ticketed by police for performing a prohibited U-turn last September. The company had to recall 1200 cars in May 2025 after collisions with barriers.
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