A man’s first ride in a driverless Waymo turned into an awkward wait after the car stopped sideways in the middle of a road in Atlanta, Georgia. With no driver to take control, he could only watch as other cars drove around him.
Lou Pizzichillo filmed the trip and shared the video on Instagram in late October. He had been looking forward to trying a robotaxi, but the ride went wrong before he got far.
Near the exit of a parking area, the Waymo came across chains hanging from a yellow bar. Instead of driving through, it tried to turn around and wound up blocking part of the road.
Pizzichillo called for help, though even the support worker struggled to get the car moving. Their conversation became one of the video’s funniest parts, especially when the worker admitted the Waymo wasn’t following his suggestion.
Not Going Anywhere
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The trouble began before Pizzichillo even got inside. As he waited in a parking lot, the white Waymo rolled slightly past him, then stopped. He walked over, climbed into the back seat, and started his first trip.
For a moment, everything appeared to work as expected. The steering wheel turned on its own, and a recorded message welcomed him aboard. “This experience may feel futuristic,” the voice told him.
That promise soon took on a different meaning.
As the robotaxi approached the parking area’s exit, it slowed near a yellow bar with chains hanging down. Pizzichillo suspected the chains had confused its sensors, though the video doesn’t confirm why it stopped.
Instead of continuing forward, the Waymo began what looked like a three-point turn. It eventually settled at an angle across the road, leaving other drivers to work their way past.
“We are sideways in the road,” Pizzichillo said while looking out the window.
A message on the car’s screen showed that Waymo’s support team was working to get him moving. Still, the vehicle remained in place as he waited for someone to find a way out.
Ignoring the Advice
When a support worker finally spoke with Pizzichillo, the conversation did little to improve his confidence.
The worker apologized and explained that he was sending the vehicle a suggestion to help it move. After another attempt failed, he admitted, “That’s not taking my suggestion here.”
Pizzichillo wondered why the car couldn’t simply turn left and return the way it had come. The worker kept trying to help, eventually mentioning that another specialist might need to review the problem.
Unlike a human driver, however, the support worker couldn’t just grab the steering wheel and move the car.
According to Waymo’s explanation of its fleet response system, remote staff provide guidance when a robotaxi encounters a difficult situation. They do not directly drive the vehicle. Its automated system still decides whether to follow the advice.
That helps explain why the worker was offering suggestions rather than taking control. The video cuts between portions of the trip and ends before showing how Pizzichillo finally got moving.
Comments Take Off
Viewers quickly picked up on the strange exchange between the passenger and the support worker. For many, the idea that a robotaxi could ignore advice from its own support team was hard to believe.
“You know it’s bad when they refer to it as a ‘suggestion’ and not an override,” one person wrote. Another joked that getting stuck inside the car was “very futuristic.”
Others were less amused. Several questioned why driverless cars are allowed on public roads when a human driver might face penalties for blocking traffic. Those comments reflected viewers’ concerns rather than any finding that Waymo had broken the law.
For at least one person, the clip was enough to change an upcoming travel plan. A commenter who was preparing for a work trip to Phoenix had been considering taking a Waymo for the first time.
“You have ended my debate,” the viewer wrote. “Thank you!”