A Los Angeles technology entrepreneur found himself stuck in a self-driving taxi last month on his way to the airport, with the car repeatedly circling a parking lot.
Mike Johns posted a video on LinkedIn in which he was heading to Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix.
Johns still managed to catch his flight, but he was left dizzy and frustrated by the taxi experience from Waymo, the self-driving car arm of Google parent company Alphabet. Waymo said the incident caused a five-minute delay.
Johns says to CNN on Monday that this wasn’t his first driverless taxi and that he wanted to give the service another try for his trip to the airport.
“He went into his first loop, second loop. What is happening? It feels like they’re playing a trick on me,” he said. By the fourth lap, he was starting to feel dizzy because it was a small, concentrated area.
He wrote on LinkedIn that the car drove in eight circles.
Johns said he did not contact customer support on his own. He said Waymo recognized the problem and contacted him through the car’s system.
In the video, a Waymo employee is heard saying they called about a notification that the car “might be experiencing some routing issue.”
The Waymo representative can be heard telling Johns that they couldn’t control the car and that they needed him to use the app to resolve the issue.
The representative then said they were trying to stop the car and two screens in the car said he was “temporarily pausing” the trip and “finding a location” to stop.
Robo-taxis can also make mistakes
A Waymo taxi driving in circles isn’t the first time the technology has displayed confusing behavior or frustrated passengers and passersby.
In June 2024, Waymo recalled 672 cars to make them less likely to crash into poles after a car crashed into a pole in May. In 2021, the robotaxi was confused by puddles and passengers said the cars braked suddenly due to nearby birds.
Waymo has also experienced several recalls, including in February 2024 when two vehicles crashed into the same truck minutes apart, and Waymo, along with robotaxi company Zoox, became part of a federal investigation for erratic driving.
Johns said he had heard of different incidents involving Waymo cars. He didn’t think it would necessarily happen to him — until it did.
The artificial intelligence consultant said working in the technology sector was part of the reason he chose Waymo over ride-hailing services Lyft and Uber.
“It’s the future of where things are going, so I’m definitely part of that,” he said.
Waymo completed a regularly scheduled software update following the looping event.
Johns said he has not contacted Waymo, but may consider using the service again after speaking with the company. Waymo told CNN in an email that it attempted to contact Johns and left a voicemail to follow up.
