Video: Google’s autopilot failed to cope with a roundabout and spun the Waymo robotaxi

A video has gone viral on social media showing a Waymo robotaxi tirelessly circling around a roundabout as if tethered. The video turned out to be funny, but this case clearly demonstrates why driverless taxis need to be trained on real roads.

Image source: Waymo

When asked by TechCrunch for clarification, a Waymo spokesperson said there were no passengers on board the vehicle at the time and that the company had already resolved the issue by releasing a software update to its fleet. However, TechCrunch asked Waymo for more information about the reasons for the strange behavior of the car, and also asked for details about how the company’s engineers managed to cope with this problem.

This is not the first time that users have encountered strange behavior in robotoxy. Videos showing strange behavior of robotaxis have become increasingly common online in the past year, especially in San Francisco, where autonomous vehicles have long been common. Earlier this year, a city resident live-streamed Waymo drones honking in her apartment parking lot all night.

Robotaxi service Waymo One continues to expand its coverage in the United States, including in San Francisco and Los Angeles, doubling the number of weekly self-driving taxi rides to 100,000 since May. To help robotaxis better cope with complex traffic situations, the company currently uses the Google Gemini AI model to train them.