Waymo robotaxi drives through police cordon set up after London stabbing

A Waymo robotaxi rammed straight through a crime scene cordon in west London.

Detectives were carrying out a crime scene investigation in Harlesden following a double stabbing when a Waymo driverless car suddenly ploughed through the tape.

The robotaxis have been whizzing across London for months as part of tests, although they have to have a human safety driver behind the wheel and ready to intervene.

An eyewitness was filming the blue lights scene on Wednesday in the middle of the road when the white Jaguar robotaxi appeared.

It can be seen zooming into the junction despite the blue lights and the ‘do not cross’ police tape across the road.

The vehicle, with the signature sensors on the roof, appears to narrowly miss an officer standing by the police car.

Its horn blares out several times as the Waymo comes to a sudden stop.

Police officers then speak with the driver who appears to be sitting at the front.

The person behind the camera exclaims ‘oh my days bro’ after the near-miss, saying that ‘it is supposed to be a Waymo driverless taxi.’

Waymo said the car was driven manually by the safety driver at the time of the incident.

The company believes that if the automated driving had been on at the time, it would have identified the police tape and stopped.

The safety driver has been suspended while an investigation is carried out, Metro understands.

A Waymo spokesperson said: ‘We sincerely apologise for any disruption caused by this validation driver, who was driving the vehicle manually. We take this matter seriously and are working with our operations partner to ensure appropriate actions are taken.’

Waymo, owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, introduced the robotaxis on London roads late last year as part of the first phase of testing, with the aim of launching passenger services later this year but pending government approval.

Until last week, the cars were controlled by the safety driver.

But Waymo has since started testing with AI largely controlling the drive, although each car will always have a human inside as a requirement.

London has become a battleground for robotaxi firms, with tech companies eyeing up the market that is set to open up if the UK government gives the go-ahead for them with new regulations.

However, critics have voiced concern over self-driving vehicles in London.

Robotaxis have been previously tested in more grid-like cities in China and the US, raising concern how they can adapt to London’s complex layout and traffic.

Waymo sparked outrage last year when a popular San Francisco neighbourhood cat named KitKat was ran over and killed.

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