Sam Schwartz expected Waymo’s cars to go the extra mile — or, at least, three-tenths of one.
That is roughly how far Schwartz said he was from his hotel in downtown San Francisco when the Waymo taxi he and his wife were riding in suddenly stopped and refused to move. The couple visited the city earlier this month.
As Schwartz tried to figure out what was going on in a conversation with Waymo support, the employee on the phone said that there was a “huge blockage” preventing the car from reaching his hotel. Then, the employee told Schwartz: “You can request another ride, probably Uber or Lyft,” according to a video Schwartz posted on LinkedIn.
“As my son told me, what an advertisement for Uber,” Schwartz told Business Insider.
A Waymo spokesperson said that the car was halted because of a “restriction placed after our operations team learned of planned protest activity.” The spokesperson did not respond when asked what protest was taking place.
Waymo suggests other transportation options when cars cannot reach a passenger’s destination, the company said.
“We’re looking into this further to see how we could have better served the rider in this case, in addition to providing a refund,” the spokesperson said.
Schwartz’s experience shows some of the hiccups that Waymo’s self-driving vehicles face as they become more common on streets across the US.
In at least two incidents this month, Waymo cars drove into floodwaters, prompting the company to issue a software recall and suspend service in six cities, including Atlanta and San Antonio. Separately, the company has halted rides on highways to improve performance around construction zones.
Ultimately, Schwartz and his wife chose to walk back to their hotel, though his wife is disabled and has trouble walking long distances. Waymo refunded Schwartz’s fare for the ride, he said.
Questions about Waymo’s expansion
Schwartz said he was visiting San Francisco specifically to ride in Waymo’s cars. Schwartz is an author who wrote a 2018 book on self-driving technology, “No One at the Wheel,” and said he’s working on a novel about the technology.
Overall, Schwartz said he was impressed by the Waymo rides he took. During another ride through San Francisco on the same trip, he said, the Waymo car he took maneuvered smoothly around another self-driving car, passing within a few inches of it but never hesitating in the same way that a human driver might.
“The Waymo moved with such precision,” he said. “I am impressed with the technology.”
Schwartz said that his attempted ride to his hotel, though, left him with questions about Waymo’s plans to launch its service in other cities.
Waymo has been testing its cars on the streets of Washington, DC, for over a year, though it is not yet offering passenger rides there. The company has also tested self-driving cars in New York City.
Places like Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn are far denser and busier than San Francisco, Schwartz said.
“If it couldn’t handle that, it can’t possibly make it in New York,” he said.
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