We spoke to a guy who got stuck in a Waymo robotaxi on a dizzying loop

A month ago, a video circulated on social media Waymo robotaxi stuck around the circle – a special event without passengers in the car, according to Waymo.

Obviously, it wasn’t a one-time thing.

At the same time, in another Waymo robotaxi headed to the Phoenix airport, Mike Johns, founder and CEO of AI consultancy Digital Mind State, was also found circling the parking lot, unable to stop or get out.

The videos were posted within a few days of each other. Waymo did not confirm whether the incidents were simultaneous or if there were other similar incidents, but it says it issued a software update to fix the problem.

Johns was stuck in the Waymo driving around for “less than seven minutes,” but says it “felt like forever,” mostly because he was afraid he’d miss his flight and suspected the car had been stolen. It was his second time in a Waymo robotaxi.

A spokesperson for Waymo confirmed the matter. “This incident occurred in early December and has been replaced by a frequently updated program. The vehicle completed the passenger’s journey and did not pay the toll.”

A Waymo customer service representative called in the car without being pressured by Johns, he told TechCrunch. The agent said he received information that his car “might have a transmission problem,” according to a movie about what Johns shared.

To solve the problem, the technician asked Johns to open his Waymo app and click on ‘My Trip’ in the top left corner of (the app),” to which Johns replied, “Can’t you do that? You have to make it, take the car, you don’t need my phone.”

A question worth asking, considering that such a take is where the remote assistant is.

He said: “I have no way to drive.”

Waymo tells TechCrunch that its ride-hailing agents are different from its own fleet response teamwhich is what the driver software (called “Waymo Driver”) helps to get help if it encounters unknown situations on the road.

Passenger assistance agents, like the ones Johns spoke to, can respond from passengers — passengers can communicate through the Waymo app with the call button in the car. They can also “initiate communication if the Waymo vehicle’s sensors indicate such a need.” But they do not directly interact with the driver software.

Ultimately, Johns says, following the helper’s instructions in the app led to the robotaxi returning.

Johns said Waymo charged him for the ride and told him on its website to file a complaint. The company did not immediately reach out to him after the incident, but did so this week after his video was taken great news.

“My biggest thing is this digital age that we’re in, we’re disconnected from people,” Johns told TechCrunch. “I’m all for AI. I’m at the forefront of AI, automation, robotics, but there’s still a human element.”

Missy Cummings, a professor of autonomy and robotics at George Mason University and a senior safety adviser at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, says that this incident, although small, shows a serious problem that the AV industry must solve.

“In every robotic system, there’s a big red button somewhere that, if pressed, will stop the thing,” Cummings told TechCrunch, noting that the button could be hidden somewhere in the car that’s hard to reach. “And I can tell you that this is a very important safety measure because what happens if a car … is stolen by someone and you’re a passenger in the car? You have to stop everything in the car so they can get out.”

Waymo told TechCrunch that, “Waymo vehicles have a ride button that’s always available to passengers,” which is in the app and on the passenger’s screen, but Johns said the agent didn’t tell him about it, and he. I didn’t see that.

Cummings also said that asking the rider to participate in the program using their app is “wrong” because of the difficulty of connecting to apps that are not user-friendly.

“I’m just amazed that he’s trying to get into his phone to solve this problem that needs immediate attention,” Cummings said. “He should have said, ‘Look, pull the left corner of the mat down and you’ll see a red button. Press that button.’”