A Waymo passenger filmed his ride driving in circles while he was trying to catch a flight in Arizona in December 2024. Credit: Mike Johns / TMX
A Los Angeles man trying to make his way back home from the Phoenix metro area got himself in a bit of a merry-go-round while taking a Waymo to the airport.
“Ok, why is this happening to me on a Monday?” Mike Johns asked in a video he filmed while in an autonomous vehicle in Scottsdale, Ariz. “I’m in a Waymo car … and this car is just going in circles.”
In the video, the car can be heard connecting to Waymo support for assistance.
“I received notification that your car might be experiencing some routing issue,” the customer support agent can be heard telling Johns.
Waymo’s legacy fully autonomous Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan. (Waymo / Fox News)
“I’ve got a flight to catch. Why is this thing going in a circle? I’m getting dizzy,” he responds. He then tells the agent he has his seatbelt on and “can’t get out the car.”
“Has this been hacked? What’s going on?” he asks. “I feel like I’m in the movies. Is somebody playing a joke on me?”
WAYMO SELF-DRIVING CAR CRASHES INTO SAN FRANCISCO BICYCLIST
Screenshot from Waymo’s autonomously driven Jaguar I-PACE testing in San Francisco. (Waymo / Fox News)
The incident happened on December 9, Waymo told FOX Business, adding that a subsequent software update addressed the issue.
The email said Johns was delayed by just over 5 minutes, and the vehicle was able to take him to his destination after the rider support team successfully stopped the car from circling.
Waymo self-driving vehicles are displayed at the Google I/O 2018 Conference at Shoreline Amphitheater on May 8, 2018 in Mountain View, California. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
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When Johns shared the video on social media, he wrote Waymo’s “customer service is automated and ran by AI.”
Waymo said they had attempted to contact him, and left a voicemail for follow-up. Johns was also not charged for the trip, the Alphabet Inc.-owned company added.
Johns’ post said he will “keep it old fashion and just #Lyft or #Uber” from now on.
