TEMPE, Ariz. — A driverless Waymo vehicle was captured on camera driving toward oncoming traffic on Friday. It happened near Rural Road and Lemon Street in Tempe near ASU's campus.
Two recent graduates were driving on Rural Road when they encountered the autonomous vehicle which they said had a passenger inside.
"We were quite frightened," said Aiselyn Anaya-Hall.
Anaya-Hall started recording from the passenger seat as her friend, Emmie Wuest was driving. They watched as the Waymo went to make a turn but ended up turning into their lane instead and ended up eye-to-eye with them.
"We were shocked and we thought what's going to happen to the car in front of us? And luckily, that car was able to swerve out," Anaya-Hall said.
Wuest was concerned they were about to be in a head-on collision so she pulled around the Waymo and honked to try to get its attention. The driverless car kept going and ultimately corrected itself.
“If a person made that mistake where they're driving down the wrong side of the road, I don't think you should have your license. That's the thing," Wuest said. "If you pull the Waymo over, odds are there's probably not going to be a driver in it. So it's like, who is held accountable for those individual mistakes and what's slipping through the cracks?”
Wuest and Anaya-Hall shared the video on social media as a warning to the community and to hold Waymo accountable. They hope the incident is investigated.
In a statement regarding the incident, a Waymo spokesperson said, "The trust and safety of the community is our top priority. The Waymo Driver was proceeding through an intersection when the light changed, and the vehicle rerouted its course by making a right turn, safely clearing the intersection within a minute. We continuously refine our system's performance to navigate complex scenarios while prioritizing community safety."
Andrew Maynard, a professor at ASU's School for the Future of Innovation in Society, said the incident is proof the technology isn't perfect, but believes the driverless vehicles are still a safer option.
"We have to ask questions about what went wrong and how to make the service better, but at the same time, we can't take our eye off the ball. This is safe technology," Maynard said.
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