PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A Waymo was caught on camera driving down Phoenix light rail tracks this week, forcing a passenger to flee the car before it continued along the tracks near an oncoming train.
Video taken by a bystander near Central and Southern avenues shows the moment the self-driving car stops on the tracks just before an oncoming light rail approaches. The passenger runs out of the vehicle before the car continues to drive down the tracks near another train.
“I actually felt a little sorry for the car. It obviously made a bad decision and got itself in a difficult place,” said Andrew Maynard, an emerging and transformative technology professor at ASU.
Maynard said while these situations are rare, they do happen. “This is exactly one of those edge cases, what we call them. Something unexpected where the machine drove like a machine rather than a person,” Maynard said.
Waymo vehicles are equipped with 29 cameras and update their routes and systems weekly. However, in the area where the incident happened, there was construction and the light rail was added to this spot within the last year, which Maynard said could have contributed to the rail track detour.
“I think Waymo has a challenge because no matter what they do with their system, there are always going to be unexpected circumstances where they have to learn from them,” Maynard said.
While incidents like this may draw skepticism about how safe these cars are, Maynard said he believes they’re likely safer than typical human drivers.
“These cars, in many circumstances, are safer than human drivers because they don’t have distractions, like a human driver does,” Maynard said.
Valley Metro released the following statement:
“At approximately 9 a.m. on Wednesday morning, a Valley Metro employee observed an autonomous Waymo vehicle on the northbound light rail tracks near Southern Avenue and Central Avenue in Phoenix. Our Operations Control Center was immediately notified, light rail operations staff responded to the scene, and Waymo was contacted. To minimize service impacts, northbound and southbound trains exchanged passengers before reversing direction to continue service. The incident caused no significant delays and the scene was clear by 9:15 a.m. For any further information on Waymo, its vehicle or operation, please reach out to Waymo."
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