There are conflicting stories around the Waymo, causing Mr. Johns to miss his flight. However, there is no doubt he got a wild ride.
Spinning in circles til he was nauseous, technology enthusiast Michael Johns was taken for a ride by a self-driving Waymo. Attempting to catch a flight, Mr. Johns reports his car decided to drive around in circles rather than take him to the airport. Calls to Waymo were not immediately productive, and John remains dissatisfied with their follow-up.
L.A. tech entrepreneur Mike Johns posted a video three weeks ago on LinkedIn of his call to a customer service representative for Waymo to report that the car kept turning in circles and that he was nervous about missing his flight.
"I got a flight to catch. Why is this thing going in a circle? I'm getting dizzy," Johns said. "It's circling around a parking lot. I got my seat belt on. I can't get out of the car. Has this been hacked? What's going on? I feel like I'm in the movies. Is somebody playing a joke on me?"
The customer service representative told Johns to open his Waymo app and that she would try to pull the car over, but seemed to struggle with getting the vehicle to stop.
SFGate
SFGate notes that CBS claims Johns "nearly missed" his flight, while he has told them he missed the trip. It is unclear if this enthusiast dramatized his story after the fact, or if CBS just got it wrong but either way, I'd rather not have my taxi cab impersonate Disneyland's teacup ride.
Previously:
• Waymo self-driving car hit bicyclist
