Los Angeles man is trapped in circling Waymo on way to airport: 'Is somebody playing a joke?'
Sun, January 5, 2025
A Waymo rider said he missed his flight in Scottsdale, Ariz., after the autonomous car wouldn’t stop driving in circles.
For the record:
9:59 a.m. Jan. 6, 2025: An earlier version of this story said Mike Johns missed his flight. He nearly missed his flight. An earlier headline said he was headed to LAX. He was in Arizona at the time of the incident.
A Los Angeles man said he nearly missed his flight home after getting trapped on his way to the airport in a Waymo self-driving vehicle that wouldn't stop making circles in a parking lot.
L.A. tech entrepreneur Mike Johns posted a video three weeks ago on LinkedIn of his call to a customer service representative for Waymo to report that the car kept turning in circles and that he was nervous about missing his flight.
"I got a flight to catch. Why is this thing going in a circle? I'm getting dizzy," Johns said. "It's circling around a parking lot. I got my seat belt on. I can't get out of the car. Has this been hacked? What's going on? I feel like I'm in the movies. Is somebody playing a joke on me?"
The customer service representative told Johns to open his Waymo app and that she would try to pull the car over but seemed to struggle with getting the vehicle to stop.
Johns was returning home from Scottsdale, Ariz., according to a CBS report.
On his social media post, Johns, who also works on AI initiatives, according to his LinkedIn profile, said Waymo had not followed up with him after the experience.
"You'd think by now Waymo would email, text or call for a follow-up," he wrote.
A Waymo spokesperson wrote in an email to The Times on Sunday that the incident occurred in mid-December and that the rider was delayed by roughly five minutes, then driven to his destination.
At the time of the incident, Johns wrote on LinkedIn, "Mind you I was on my way to the airport and now missed my flight." Johns has since updated his post to clarify that he almost missed his flight.
The spokesperson said the software glitch had since been resolved and that Johns was not charged for the ride. The spokesperson added that the company had tried to follow up with him via voicemail.
The company's autonomous cars have been a common sight on San Francisco streets for years, and Waymo recently opened its services to all riders after first rolling out a pilot program to select users. The robotaxis launched in L.A. last fall.
Waymo's stated goal is to reduce traffic injuries and fatalities through autonomous driving technology, and riders and proponents of the service have lauded it as a safe and easy alternative to human drivers.
But there have also been tech glitches and safety concerns during the company's rollout in several cities.
A man in downtown L.A. on Thursday allegedly attempted to hijack a Waymo and drive away. Police took the man into custody after they eventually got him out of the car.
There have also been reports of riders experiencing harassment by pedestrians who block the car's path and stall the vehicle.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Tech Worker Blames Getting Stuck in Circling Waymo for Missing His Flight Home
Victoria Beaver
Mon, January 6, 2025
Tech Worker Says He Got Stuck in Circling Waymo
Smith Collection/Gado - Getty Images
Last month, at the end of a planned visit the Phoenix area, tech worker Mike Johns attempted to make his flight to Los Angeles, California, but things took an unexpected turn when h became stuck in his self-driving Waymo vehicle. Or, to be precise, unexpected turns, plural; the autonomous Jaguar I-Pace he was riding in repeatedly ran around in circles instead of staying on the desired route to the airport, according to his account.
Johns captured the incident on a video which he then posted on his LinkedIn account — where he describes himself as "a tactician who sits at the intersection of tech, entertainment, media, and politics," and lists his current employer as the Federal Communication Commission. The clip shows him the backseat of the Waymo vehicle, calling customer support through the car's communication system. When greeted by Waymo, Johns explained his situation, saying he was on his way to a flight and stuck in his autonomous Jag.
"I have a flight to catch; why is this thing going in a circle?" Johns asked. "I’m getting dizzy. Look at what it’s doing."
The customer service representative apologized and then asked him to confirm his location. "I’m really sorry, Mike. We’re working on the situation with the vehicle. Is it circling around a parking lot, right?"
"It’s circling around a parking lot," Johns continued. "I got my seatbelt on; I can’t get out of the car. Has this been hacked? What’s going on? I feel like I’m in the movies. Is somebody playing a joke on me? I have a flight to catch."
In an interview with KCAL News, CBS's Los Angeles affiliate, Johns shared that he was unsure if he was talking with a human or an AI-generated bot, and felt unsupported in his strange predicament.
"Where's the empathy? Where's the human connection to this?" Johns said. "It's just, again, a case of today's digital world. A half-baked product and nobody meeting the customer, the consumers, in the middle."
In a response to Road & Track's request for background information, Waymo said that its Rider Support team is staffed by trained human operators, not an AI bot.
Johns was stuck in the loop for over five minutes, but once the operator was able to fix the problem, the vehicle drove the rider to their destination; Waymo says the rider was not charged for his trip due to the inconvenience of the error, and a regularly scheduled software update has reportedly addressed the software issue that led to the issue. Still, that's little solace forJohns, who said on LinkedIn that he missed his flight. (Waymo says it has reached out to him and left a voicemail in response.)
As self-driving cars continue to try and find their footing, often the humans that both choose to use them or are just citizens in the cities they're rolled out pay the price. Last fall, a group of Waymos created a bottleneck in the middle of San Francisco as the self-driving cars couldn't find their way around a double-parked Amazon delivery van.
Last month, at the end of a planned visit the Phoenix area, tech worker Mike Johns attempted to make his flight to Los Angeles, California, but things took an unexpected turn when h became stuck in his self-driving Waymo vehicle. Or, to be precise, unexpected turns, plural; the autonomous Jaguar I-Pace he was riding in repeatedly ran around in circles instead of staying on the desired route to the airport, according to his account.
Johns captured the incident on a video which he then posted on his LinkedIn account — where he describes himself as "a tactician who sits at the intersection of tech, entertainment, media, and politics," and lists his current employer as the Federal Communication Commission. The clip shows him the backseat of the Waymo vehicle, calling customer support through the car's communication system. When greeted by Waymo, Johns explained his situation, saying he was on his way to a flight and stuck in his autonomous Jag.
"I have a flight to catch; why is this thing going in a circle?" Johns asked. "I’m getting dizzy. Look at what it’s doing."
The customer service representative apologized and then asked him to confirm his location. "I’m really sorry, Mike. We’re working on the situation with the vehicle. Is it circling around a parking lot, right?"
"It’s circling around a parking lot," Johns continued. "I got my seatbelt on; I can’t get out of the car. Has this been hacked? What’s going on? I feel like I’m in the movies. Is somebody playing a joke on me? I have a flight to catch."
In an interview with KCAL News, CBS's Los Angeles affiliate, Johns shared that he was unsure if he was talking with a human or an AI-generated bot, and felt unsupported in his strange predicament.
"Where's the empathy? Where's the human connection to this?" Johns said. "It's just, again, a case of today's digital world. A half-baked product and nobody meeting the customer, the consumers, in the middle."
In a response to Road & Track's request for background information, Waymo said that its Rider Support team is staffed by trained human operators, not an AI bot.
Johns was stuck in the loop for over five minutes, but once the operator was able to fix the problem, the vehicle drove the rider to their destination; Waymo says the rider was not charged for his trip due to the inconvenience of the error, and a regularly scheduled software update has reportedly addressed the software issue that led to the issue. Still, that's little solace forJohns, who said on LinkedIn that he missed his flight. (Waymo says it has reached out to him and left a voicemail in response.)
As self-driving cars continue to try and find their footing, often the humans that both choose to use them or are just citizens in the cities they're rolled out pay the price. Last fall, a group of Waymos created a bottleneck in the middle of San Francisco as the self-driving cars couldn't find their way around a double-parked Amazon delivery van.
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