It's a Risk of Driverless Taxis That May Come as a Surprise

Waymo passengers tell Washington Post of scary harassment, often late at night
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 28, 2024 10:00 AM CST
It's a Risk of Driverless Taxis That May Come as a Surprise
A Waymo driverless taxi, in front, on a street in San Francisco.   (AP Photo/Terry Chea)

Typically, stories about the dangers of driverless cars focus on accidents with other vehicles or pedestrians. But the Washington Post reports on a different type of risk being encountered more and more by Waymo taxi passengers in San Francisco: harassment on the street, often at night. The newspaper spoke with four such passengers, three of them women, who were left rattled by their experiences. In one, a man who looks to be wielding a knife attempts to enter a Waymo vehicle—they're familiar sights in the city—as it was stopped on a deserted street at a red light. Fortunately, he gave up and walked away, but the passenger wished for a human driver who could have just stepped on the gas and fled to safety. (The newspaper has video.)

In another example, a woman recounts being followed nearly to her home by a car full of men honking and catcalling to her. In theory, she could have rerouted her vehicle through the app, but she didn't know how, and 911 said it couldn't respond to a moving vehicle. The car behind her gave up the chase just before she got home. "All the safety things then become unsafe if someone is following you," the woman says. A Waymo rep tells the newspaper that the company takes such incidents seriously but also characterizes them as rare. A support agent will stay on the phone with any passenger and work with law enforcement as needed, the rep adds.

Earlier, PCMag reported on a viral incident that happened in San Francisco in broad daylight, when two men stood in front of a Waymo car, preventing it from moving, as they tried to get the number of the woman inside the car. They eventually gave up. "Warning to women in SF," the woman tweeted, along with video of the incident. "I love Waymo but this was scary." (More Waymo stories.)

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