Waymo’s self-driving car nearly burrowed into a hole – literally

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Waymo’s self-driving vehicle almost drove right into a trench at a construction site, as seen in an Instagram video posted on Friday.

“An unmanned vehicle enters a construction site and stops just before rolling into an open trench,” wrote Insta user freddiefuture. “This is the first time I see a self-driving car in a city where there is nobody.”

Faced with an obstacle, the car seemed not to know what to do next. As freddiefuture points out, Waymo “still needs to learn.”

The San Francisco Fire Department said the incident was not reported to them, and Waymo did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Instagram user could not be contacted.

The apparent incident is another example of drone technology getting out of control.

San Francisco is the epicenter of autonomous vehicle testing: Of the nearly 140 driverless vehicle collisions reported to the California DMV as of early December 2022, the vast majority of accidents occurred in the city.

Amid rising safety and traffic concerns over the growing presence of autonomous vehicles on the streets of the Bay Area, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution last month urging regulators to address these issues and set an official city policy on self-driving cars. .

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Getting stuck is nothing new for Waymo’s self-driving car. In October, there were numerous reports of a dead end street in the Richmond area where Waymos were piling up.

On the other hand, in early December, a pair of intrepid San Francisco Standard reporters took a ride in a self-driving taxi operated by Cruise, a competitor to Waymo. The fun that followed was caught on video as the two of them had to chase the car around the block.

This latest incident demonstrates just how much more drone technology needs to be learned – by the way.

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