Company representatives noted that a rider support team had assisted the woman and that she had told them she was not harmed. — AFP
Another dramatic robotaxi video ricocheted across the Internet on Wednesday, drawing confusion as well as clicks.
In the footage, captured Monday afternoon in the West Lake neighbourhood of Los Angeles, a woman confronts a man hiding in the trunk of a Waymo vehicle she had just hailed for her daughter.
"Why the (expletive) are you in the trunk?" the woman demands, training her cellphone camera toward the back of the car, where a man's head pops above the seat headrest.
"I'm trying to figure this out," the man responds, claiming to be stuck.
A subsequent video appears to show the aftermath, with two police officers detaining a man on the sidewalk while the woman talks on the phone with a customer service representative who is offering her a credit.
She continues filming inside the Waymo, which is parked with its trunk and passenger doors popped open.
"This experience was unacceptable, and we are actively implementing changes to address this," a spokesperson for Waymo said in a statement.
Company representatives noted that a rider support team had assisted the woman and that she had told them she was not harmed.
"We're committed to keeping our riders safe and earning the trust of the communities where we operate," the statement read.
Officials at the Los Angeles Police Department were not immediately able to provide details on the incident.
It's the latest in a spate of robotaxi mishaps, caught on camera and spread via social media in a ritual of public shaming.
In recent weeks Waymos have also drawn amusement, scrutiny or scorn for violating traffic laws or becoming paralysed when they encounter complexity in a roadway.
Last Saturday three Waymos caused a minor traffic jam on a dead-end street in North Beach. Two of the cars had bumped fenders while trying to execute multi-point turns.
Waymos have also earned unwanted attention for running over animals and failing to slow or stop for school buses.
In September, San Bruno police pulled over one of the self-driving cars when it made an illegal U-turn near a DUI checkpoint.
The pile-on of viral moments shows pressure mounting on Waymo, which is owned by Google's parent company, Alphabet, as it expands to new cities and launches passenger service on Bay Area freeways. – San Francisco Chronicle/Tribune News Service
