Waymo’s self-driving taxis are at it again, this time blocking a widely trafficked street during the annual Venice Beach canals holiday boat parade in Los Angeles.
Footage of a Waymo getting confused at a narrow canal bridge was shared by local resident Ryan Light on Instagram. It shows a Waymo cautiously waiting to enter the bridge, as a single line of cars piles up on the one-way street behind it.
“One narrow bridge, an unusual amount and positioning of pedestrian chaos… and suddenly it panicked, froze and blocked traffic for a mile,” Light wrote. “All the pedestrian activity just made it shut down, though folks weren’t directly in the way.”
Along with the video, Light wrote in a comment that the wayward Waymo blocked traffic for an agonizing 45 minutes, as pedestrians shuffled to the side of the bridge so it could make its way across.
“Here and there it would inch forward, usually in a non-helpful direction,” Light observed.
Footage shows a police officer walking alongside the self-driving vehicle as it slowly tries to cross, an agonizing bit at a time. “The bridge was cleared numerous times, only to refill with pedestrians,” Light recalled. “Any movement would get the people as excited as the best floats in the parade below.”
As Waymo glitches go, it’s pretty ironic: in a sense, attempts by law enforcement to jockey the crowd around in order to clear vehicle traffic are a perfect illustration of who gets the right-of-way in US cities.
Yet until the boat parade ends, the crowd was able to hold the Waymo off — effectively creating a car-free footbridge that otherwise would’ve been traveled by “hundreds of cars,” as Light observed.
Light comes to a similar conclusion. After the Waymo passes, he has “no idea what happened to it at the next bridge, but watching a self driving car struggle with a decades old neighborhood tradition was endlessly entertaining, and more memorable than the parade (though that was great too).” More on self-driving cars: Waymo Haunted by Killing of Beloved Neighborhood Cat
The post Waymo Paralyzed by Parade, Blocks Traffic for 45 Minutes appeared first on Futurism.
