Waymo apparently had a software bug that turned their driverless taxi into an unamusement ride, rapidly driving a passenger around in a circle with no way to stop or get out.
“I got a flight to catch. Why is this thing going in a circle? I’m getting dizzy,” passenger Mike Johns said in the video posted in December 2024.
“It’s circling around a parking lot. I got my seatbelt on. I can’t get out the car. Has this been hacked? What’s going on? I feel like I’m in the movies,” Johns told the customer support representative.
The representative asked Johns to open his Waymo app. Johns then asked her to take over the car, saying, “Can’t you just do it? You should be able to handle it.”
She said naturally “I’m sorry Mike, I’m afraid I can’t do that” and spooky horror music began to play.
But seriously, of course the real story here is if they can turn off this unwanted feature with a remote update they can… TURN IT BACK ON!
When you get in a driverless taxi be prepared never to get out again.
Why? Because computer engineers aren’t required to sign a code of ethics. That’s true. They aren’t like other engineers. If they were, for example, Tesla would immediately go out of business.
