Passenger Forced to Flee Self-Driving Vehicle After It Stops in Path of an Oncoming Train

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

A Waymo passenger fled from a self-driving car after it stopped on Phoenix light rail tracks with a train approaching nearby. The unsettling moment was captured on video by a bystander.

The footage shows the passenger fleeing from the vehicle as it sits on the tracks before continuing forward near another train. The incident occurred on the morning of Jan. 7 near Central and Southern avenues in south Phoenix, where the light rail extension is still relatively new, per KPNX.

Phoenix police say they received a call about the incident, but confirmed the Waymo vehicle left the area before officers arrived, according to the outlet. Authorities reported no disruption to light rail service.

A Valley Metro spokesperson told the outlet that an employee who noticed the Waymo vehicle immediately alerted operations staff. Trains briefly reversed direction to minimize service impacts, and the scene was cleared within about 15 minutes.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/passenger-forced-flee-self-driving-001247009.html

[dalton99a]

1. Such a doubting Thomas

[hlthe2b]

2. Good thing they were awake and paying attention.

Enough said, I guess...

[kimbutgar]

3. Where I live they are all over the city and I've had to back up numerous times on narrow streets because

They won’t pull over to the side on narrow streets. You couldn’t pay to ride in one.And now they are talking about having self driving big trucks on the freeways. I will avoid them at all costs!

[PeaceWave]

4. Car uses phone to access political posts, decides it doesn't like them, decides to do something about it...

[jls4561]

5. So the Waymo vehicle fled the scene before police arrived. Was it trained by ICE?

[Retrograde]

6. Waymo's R&D facility is in the next town over

I've seen them testing their vehicles - first with human drivers, then alone - for several years. They're just rolling out service here. Waymo is across the street from the CalTrain tracks, and some of the test routes cross them Are the Phoenix light tracks so different that regular train tracks? If not, Waymo needs to do a lot more testing - and publish what it found out about this near miss and what it's doing to fix it.