Confused Waymos causing chaos on the streets of San Francisco


The Alphabet-owned self-driving Waymo vehicles are often confused and don’t seem to know how to get out of sticky traffic situations.

A recent viral TikTok video, first found by The Byte, shows a self-driving pile-up in which a group of Waymo robotaxis are trapped behind an impenetrable fortress – an Amazon delivery van.

The bystander, who took the 35-second clip that garnered the attention of at least 150,000 TikTok users, called the situation a “Waymo standoff.”

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The person can be heard saying, “The Waymo is stuck because the Waymo is trying to go behind the Amazon, but then it’s stuck behind the Waymo, and oh my god, there’s another Waymo.”

Finally, when one Waymo manages to break free from the traffic jam, a passenger waves to the camera as they finally start moving.

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Image by Getty/Bloomberg

While this is a funny case of autonomous vehicles gone wrong, these self-driving vehicles have a bit of a reputation for confused car pile-ups and car-related chaos.

Although Waymo vehicles can be found in Arizona, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, all the chaos seems to be happening in San Fran. Another incident features a group of confused Waymo robotaxis clogging up a busy street.

Videos of frustrated drivers uploaded on social media showed seven Waymos blocking the traffic on the 101 on-ramp in San Francisco. The self-driving vehicles encountered a road blockage and most likely got confused.

The video showed the queue of driverless cars and the driver of a regular car getting out and moving the cones to pass by the taxi jam.

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Another incident in San Francisco saw a group of individuals vandalize one of Alphabets’ self-driving vehicles. People were seen writing on the car and hitting the vehicle with objects. The video ended with the Waymo being set on fire in the middle of a busy San Francisco street.