Waymo car drives on train tracks; passenger runs from vehicle

Waymo vehicle
Waymo mistake FILE PHOTO: A Waymo car drove down light rail tracks in Phoenix. (Heidi - stock.adobe.com)

PHOENIX — A Waymo autonomous car got itself on a dangerous path when it decided to drive down a set of train tracks in Phoenix.

The self-driving car had a passenger inside when it stopped on the tracks of the city’s light rail system, AZ Family reported.

A light-rail train was approaching at the time.

The video shows the passenger getting out of the vehicle before the car starts driving down the tracks near another train.

Waymo cars have dozens of cameras and update routes and systems weekly, AZ Family said. But, where the car made its mistake was under construction and the light rail had been added within the past year.

“I actually felt a little sorry for the car. It obviously made a bad decision and got itself in a difficult place,” Andrew Maynard, a professor of emerging and transformative technology, said.

Maynard told KPNX that Waymo has a team that will react in similar situations, either to drive the car off the tracks manually or send instructions to the vehicle to drive itself off the tracks.

“Waymo will react very fast if they see an issue like this. They will look at the software, work out where the bugs are, where they need to update it, and they will push an update out very fast indeed,” he said.

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