A bizarre viral video shows the moment a Phoenix, Arizona, police officer stopped a driverless car, which then rolled down its window. The officer was then connected to a remote operator, the body cam video shows.
“Yeah, it stopped,” the officer said to a dispatcher in the video, repeating the license plate. “And there’s no driver.” You can watch the video below.
AZ Central reported that the driverless vehicle was a Waymo car, and the incident was captured on body cam video. According to AZ Central, the incident occurred in June and hit Reddit, but it first made local news headlines in early July.
Police dispatch records obtained by AZCentral say the vehicle “drove into oncoming traffic, ran a red light and ‘FREAKED OUT.’” The car did not get a ticket because, dispatch records obtained by the newspaper say, the officer was “UNABLE TO ISSUE CITATION TO COMPUTER.”
The Phoenix Officer Told the ‘Rider Support’ Operator That the Car ‘Went Into Opposing Lanes of Traffic’
The video shows the officer approaching the vehicle and saying, “Hi.” The window rolled down automatically, but no one was in the car. Instead, the car connected to a “rider support” operator.
“Welcome to rider support. This call may be recorded for quality assurance,” a message blared.
“Yeah, this is Officer Hines, Phoenix PD. So your car here drove into oncoming lanes of traffic,” the officer said in the video, which has more than 9 million views on X.
The operator told the officer he would “go ahead and take a look at that right now” when informed of the car’s actions.
“There’s like a little bit of a construction area, and it went into opposing lanes of traffic, which is real bad,” the officer said in the video.
At that point, another person came over and told the officer they were there out of curiosity, adding, “I thought maybe there’s a passenger.”
“No, you know, the construction here, it was eastbound in the westbound lanes, which is real bad,” the officer said. “And then I light it up, and it takes off into the intersection.”
The operator told the officer he is calling up the information on the car.
“I don’t know if you’re able to kind of like review the video or something,” the officer said.
“Yeah,” said the operator.
“Okay, great,” said the police officer.
Waymo Said the Vehicle ‘Encountered Inconsistent Construction Signage,’ Reports Say
Waymo told AZCentral the car “encountered inconsistent construction signage” before going into the incoming traffic lane.
The car “was blocked from navigating back into the correct lane” for about 30 seconds, Waymo told the newspaper.
“In an effort to clear the intersection, the Waymo vehicle proceeded forward a short distance and pulled into the next available parking lot,” Waymo said to AZCentral, characterizing the incident as taking “approximately one minute.”
According to AZCentral, only a “handful” of cities allow driverless vehicles.
Waymo explains the concept on its website, saying, “Waymo One is our public, fully autonomous ride-hailing service. Riders can use the Waymo One app to hail one of our autonomously driven vehicles (with no human driver in the front seat!) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Whether it’s for a fun night out or just to get a break from driving, our riders get a clean vehicle every time and a Driver with more than 20 million miles of experience on public roads.”
“Every year, 1.4M lives are lost to traffic crashes around the world. The status quo is not acceptable. Waymo is committed to holding safety to a higher standard,” Waymo’s website says. “Because when we do, we make space for people to get around in a whole new way. On this path, we aim to offer freedom of movement for all, create a sustainable, efficient transportation ecosystem, and make the planet better than we found it.”
Waymo’s website insists, “Before our Waymo Driver begins operating in a new area, we first map the territory with incredible detail, from lane markers to stop signs to curbs and crosswalks. Then, instead of relying solely on external data such as GPS which can lose signal strength, the Waymo Driver uses these highly detailed custom maps, matched with real-time sensor data, to determine its exact road location at all times.”
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