Waymo Driverless Car Drives Into Active Police Standoff
The Facts
- A recent video circulating on social media shows a Waymo driverless car taking a left turn in downtown Los Angeles and driving into the middle of an active police standoff, passing a man who was face down on the ground next to a truck as police shouted commands.
- A Waymo spokesman stated that the vehicle cleared the scene, which included a helicopter flying overhead, in a matter of seconds, and that the passengers inside made it safely to their destination, with no injuries reported from the incident.
- Waymo recently began rolling out its driverless vehicles in Los Angeles, and the deployment has encountered several operational challenges, including vehicles driving through active police scenes and other navigation issues that have raised safety concerns.
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The Spin
Techno-optimist narrative
While autonomous Waymo vehicles, like any car or driver, aren't perfect, occasional incidents like this shouldn't distract from how phenomenal these cars have become. With 96 million miles logged and 91% fewer serious-injury crashes than humans, most reported collisions weren't the vehicles' fault. The data shows Waymo's tech is already dramatically safer than typical drivers.
Techno-skeptic narrative
Even if Waymo is safer on paper, expanding "self-driving" tech without strict oversight ignores a bigger threat — cars are becoming rolling surveillance devices. Automakers already share location and behavior data without consent, and vulnerable people can be tracked or harmed. Until privacy, regulation, and misuse risks are addressed, celebrating autonomous vehicles is premature.
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