Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, has faced similar incidents since launching its driverless taxi service in 2020, including vehicles blocking traffic and emergency scenes. Despite these issues, legal recourse for affected passengers like Johns is limited due to arbitration agreements and liability clauses in Waymo's terms of service. While Johns does not plan to pursue legal action, he advocates for greater awareness and transparency regarding the risks associated with autonomous vehicles, acknowledging that users are part of an evolving experiment in this new technological landscape.
Key takeaways:
- Tech entrepreneur Mike Johns experienced a malfunction with a Waymo autonomous vehicle, which drove in loops for several minutes, causing him nausea and dizziness.
- Waymo addressed the issue with a software update, but the company declined to provide details on the frequency of such malfunctions or their procedures for addressing them.
- Waymo's driverless cars have a history of unexpected behavior, including blocking traffic and emergency scenes, and causing gridlock due to software glitches.
- Legal recourse for incidents like Johns' is limited due to Waymo's terms of service, which include arbitration agreements and limitations of liability.