A video file that circulated on social media about a month ago. A Waymo robot is stuck in a roundabout. According to Waymo – an isolated incident with no passengers in the vehicle.
Obviously, It's not a one-time thing.
At the same time, In another Waymo robot headed to the Phoenix airport, Mike Johns, founder and CEO of AI consultancy Digital Mind State, found himself wandering into a parking lot and unable to park or exit.
The videos were exchanged within a few days. Waymo does not know whether the events occurred at the same time. It hasn't confirmed whether or not there have been other similar incidents, but it has said that software updates have been released to fix the issue.
Johns was stuck in a Waymo that went through the loop in “less than seven minutes,” but said it “felt like forever,” especially because he was worried he'd miss his flight, and questioned whether the car had been broken into. It was his second time in a Waymo robot.
A Waymo spokesperson confirmed the incident. “This incident occurred in early December and was resolved through a regularly scheduled software update. The vehicle completes the rider's journey and is not charged for the ride.”
A Waymo customer support specialist took Johns into the car without prompting, he told TechCrunch. The agent said he had received a notification that his car “may be experiencing some traffic issues.” Video Johns shared the incident.
to solve the problem; The expert asked Johns to open his Waymo app and tap (a) 'My Trip' in the lower left corner of the app, and Johns said, “Can't do that? You should be able to handle it, you should take over the car, you don't need my phone.”
It's a fair question to ask what such takeover is for the remote assistant.
“I had no choice but to control the car,” she admitted.
Waymo tells TechCrunch that it's different from its ride-hailing agents. Naval Response TeamIf it encounters an unfamiliar situation on the road, the self-driving software (known as “Waymo Driver”) taps for help.
As Johns spoke with, Rider Support Agents can respond to outreach from riders — riders can communicate through the Waymo app and the in-vehicle call button. They can “initiate communication if the Waymo vehicle's diagnostics indicate such a need.” However, they do not interact directly with the vehicle's driving software.
In the end, Johns said, he followed the directions of a support agent in the app and got the robot back on course.
Johns said Waymo compensated him for the ride and directed him to its website to file a complaint. The company did not immediately contact him after the incident, but did so this week after obtaining a video of him. Major news.
“My biggest thing is that in this digital age that we're in, we're so disconnected from the human factor,” Johns told TechCrunch. “I am for AI. A.I. automation; I'm at the forefront of robots, but there's still a human factor.”
Missy Cummings, a professor of autonomy and robotics at George Mason University and senior safety adviser for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said the incident is small but demonstrates a big problem for AV companies to address.
“In any robotic system, there's a big red button somewhere that says, 'If you press a button, that thing will be deactivated,'” Cummings told TechCrunch, noting that it could be hidden somewhere in the car that's hard to get to. “And I'll tell you it's a really important security measure because what happens if a car is broken into and there's a passenger in the vehicle? We definitely need the ability to remotely stop everything in the car.”
Waymo told TechCrunch that the fact that “Waymo vehicles have a button that riders can use at all times” is located on the app and passenger interface, but Johns, a support agent, didn't mention it. can't see
Cummings also noted that the requirement to be an active participant in the repair is “prone to errors” due to potential connectivity issues and non-user apps.
“I was freaking out because I was trying to get him to get on his phone to deal with it right away when it was clear it was an emergency,” Cummings said. “Look, Pull down the left corner of the mat on the floor and you'll see a red button,” she should have said. Press that button.'”