By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-06 19:37:07 | Updated at 2025-01-10 02:01:41
3 days ago
A ride to the airport took a stressful turn for a Los Angeles man when he opted to call a self-driving taxi service.
Mike Johns, the founder of a tech strategy company, shared a nauseating video on social media of his Waymo car driving out of control as he raced to catch a flight out of Scottsdale, Arizona.
'Why is this happening to me on a Monday morning?' Johns groaned as he filmed the wheel spinning in circles while the car drove around a parking lot.
Johns called the customer service line for Waymo and told the representative that he had an urgent flight to catch.
'Why is this thing going in a circle? I'm getting dizzy,' Johns told the representative, as he added, 'I feel like I'm in the movies.'
He pressed the representative on if he's been hacked - and frantically told them he couldn't get out of the vehicle as it went around in circles 10 times.
Waymo prides itself as the 'world's first autonomous ride-hailing service' and is intended to give riders a safer experience.
The service is available in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Waymo cars are also coming to Austin, Atlanta, and Miami.
The Waymo vehicle's wheel spun in circles as its rider attempted to get the car back on the road
Mike Johns (pictured in the back of the vehicle) was shocked and frustrated when the Waymo car he booked spun in circles in a parking lot
The representative told Johns that they would work to find a solution and asked him to access his Waymo app.
Johns added that he 'better not' be late for his flight as the representative attempted to pull the car over and reroute it out of the parking lot.
He was then shocked to learn that he would have to reroute the car on an app himself - because the customer service worker didn't have control of the car.
'Take over the car, you don't need my phone,' Johns told the representative as the car continued to drive in circles.
After a few minutes of chaos, the car was eventually rerouted to the airport and Johns caught his flight just in time.
A representative for Waymo confirmed to DailyMail.com that Johns was not charged for his trip and that they have attempted to contact him after his disastrous ride. They added that the looping event has been remedied by a recent software update.
'Where's the empathy? Where's the human connection to this,' Johns told local CBS affiliate, KCAL News when recalling the incident.
Waymo vehicles are owned by Google and operate in several cities across the US (stock image)
Mike Johns shared his disastrous experience in a self-driving vehicle on social media
'It's just, again, a case of today's digital world. A half-baked product and nobody meeting the customer, the consumers, in the middle,' he added.
Johns expressed his concern with the autonomous cars to the local outlet and slammed the company for being 'humanless.'
Waymo, a company owned by Google, began operation in 2009 with the mission of making the roads safer.
Last year, Waymo doubled their service in Phoenix and added Scottsdale to operating cities.
