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244

Man trapped inside driverless car as it spins in circles (www.bbc.com)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

59 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Mike Johns boarded a driverless Waymo taxi to an airport in Scottsdale, Arizona, but it began spinning in circles in a parking lot.

He filmed the moment he was trapped in the vehicle, unable to stop the car or get help.

Johns said he almost missed his flight.

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[–] [email protected] 68 points 2 months ago (4 children)

"Spins in circles" makes it sound like the car was drifting, when it was just doing laps around the inside of a parking lot. Also, this guy starts talking about them "taking care" of his flight when this has been happening for what, 5 minutes? I get that it's annoying, but if 5 minutes circling a parking lot would have made him miss his flight, he'd also have missed it if there was even a hint of bad traffic. He also doesn't even allow the customer service person to help him.

Also, the screen in the car has a "pull over" button on it. I guess he missed that? Or, maybe he hit it and it was stuck in a loop trying to find a safe place to pull over? It seems to me that a software button on a touch screen isn't good enough though. They should have a physical big red button that a passenger can't miss and can hit if something is going wrong. But, that's just me.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

How did he not allow them to help? They should be able to remotely take over the car. He's correct that they don't need his phone to correct an issue like this.

He also didn't know how long this could take. Good to have it on a recording in case he was stuck there for an hour and did miss his flight.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 months ago

How did he not allow them to help?

He kept talking over the woman who was trying to help. He brought up his flight about 3x. When she asked him to bring up the Waymo app he pushed back rather than just doing what she asked.

He's right that it's dumb if he has to use his phone to do something. But, if she thought that would work, why not try it? I suspect the reason he didn't want to do that is that he was using his phone to record his social media post, and was more concerned with getting his viral post ready vs. trying to actually resolve the situation.

This doesn't make Waymo look good. Their car getting stuck looping a parking lot is ridiculous. The passenger not having an obvious button to push to get the car to immediately stop (or find a safe place to pull over and stop if it's on a highway or something) seems like a big oversight too. The person answering the phone also didn't seem to know how to handle the situation either. Like, this seems like one of the primary things someone on support should know how to do: stop the car and let the passenger get out if there's a problem. But, she seemed to be fumbling to find a solution.

Having said that, the guy seemed to be making the situation worse instead of trying to resolve it and get to the airport.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

To be fair, he couldn't have used the app since he was recording the incident for social media clout. So much more important.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Did he try opening the door? I haven't watched it, but whenever I open the door in a waymo, it immediately stops

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I don't know, I doubt it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I’m an Uber driver. This is what I always tells my customers: if you don’t like the way I’m driving just literally open the car door while we’re in motion and I’ll end the ride immediately.

It’s a really good system. Makes a lot of sense.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

😂 I don't understand your point. He was in a parking lot and could have safely exited at any time if he felt unsafe. Using waymo is a choice, and being a new technology, it has a few bugs that, as far as I can tell, have never been life threatening. Before I got a car, about a month ago, I was using Uber for years and Waymo (when it became available) whenever it was too hot for my dog to walk to work. I have only had ONE Uber driver who gave me the impression that they were a safer driver than Waymo. In my own anecdotal experience Waymo is SIGNIFICANTLY safer than human drivers

Edit: two commas

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

I was wondering where to sign up when I thought the car was doing donuts

[–] [email protected] 59 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

That guy is a fucking Karen. Does it suck the car is doing that, sure. But you don't have to be a complete tool to the customer service representative who has nothing to do with what's happening right now.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yes and no. If you’re going to have an independent system like that malfunction then the CS needs a way to save someone from potential harm. People panic and cannot follow instructions and, honestly, this sort of service should have multiple safety features built in if someone is not in control.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Again, the customer service rep didn't do any of this. They are just following a script.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yes, but as a customer, who is probably driving in circles for a while now and needs to catch a flight, I would want this fixed right now.

I mean who am I going to ask to stop the car otherwise? How can you be so numb? Of course it's not the CS-reps fault, but the customer is completely in the right to react like that in a stressy situation when they have no one else to help them?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I mean who am I going to ask to stop the car otherwise?

There is a button 12" from his face that says "Stop". He could've pressed it.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I saw no button.
Watched the video again and man he stayed relatively calm. I have no idea wtf is wrong with y'all calling him a Karen...

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

Yeah this whole thread reads like a character assassination

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

I’m fairly certain near the end of the video the CS rep says they are going to stop the car for him. So, they have the capabilities on their end, and a self driving vehicle is a bit more of a priority fix for safety of all lives and not just the passenger’s.

It’s not like this is an app malfunctioning where you can close and restart it to force a reset or a shitty uber driver who at least has some form of accountability to the company and their reputation.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I don’t think he was a complete Karen and he brought up several good points. If Elon can remotely unlock a Tesla, then support should be about to abort the ride and stop the car. Problem is this was likely tier 1 support which is just customer issues like billing and what not. He needed like a tier 3 engineer at least. They sure as shit didn’t need him to do something on his phone.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

And how do we know his first move wasn’t to try using the app to get the car to stop?

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Barely made it thru the video, the guy was so annoying I had to look him up:

https://mikejohns.ceo/

Like, yeah it would suck, but it had probably been happening for 2 minutes and he wants them to pay for his flight already.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago

That site says CEO and based on his entitlement, it seems safe to say he is.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.

It will with AI.”

This dude really ought to hire a proofreader.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Has it been hacked? Jesus, no! That would’ve been way worse. It’s a parking lot so probably the car can’t find its exit.

What bothers me is that the woman in the other end doesn’t have the option to control the car herself. That would’ve been the very first thing to do.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 months ago

Like 30 seconds into the phone call she flat out says they're taking control remotely.

He just keeps talking nonsense to try and make it take longer for the video. Probably wasn't even going to the airport lol.

Dude's whole job is this stupid shit and convincing people he's a big enough deal they should pay him to talk to them

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Might want to write some code for detecting loops then

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago (6 children)

I didn't watch the video, but was he really not capable of opening the doors? I've taken a waymo quite a few times and it used to try dropping me off in front my neighbors house instead of where I live, so I would just open the door and it would immediately stop

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

There's a button inside to signal the car to pull over. He's only "trapped" in the sense that he might miss his flight if he has to wait for a different car to come pick him up.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Gotcha, that does make sense. I was under the impression the parking lot he was going in circles in was at the airport. If that isn't the case, than I understand his position more. He's still a Karen though

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Wouldn't be as good a video tho

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

We're in the mirror verse. Satire writers wrote this entire universe. Next thing he's going to be auto driven into a shipping container and sent to a private island of a billionaire because the car was called home

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (2 children)

So where's the big red button called, "emergency stop"?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It sounds like the tech support agent was trying to get him to do just that on his phone... But I haven't used Waymo before, so I'm not certain about that.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

emergency stop do just that on his phone...

Bruh

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's also on the big screen right in front of you when your sitting in one. He also could have opened the door and it would have immediately stopped.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I’m guessing the “open the door and the car will stop” system was built by the same people who built the “get in this car and it’ll go to your destination” system.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

What is your point? If he didn't try in the video, you can't say that wouldn't have worked. In my own experience, it stops every time the door is open.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Literally right in front of his face. There's a touchscreen on the seat back with a button to pull over.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago

you spin me right round baby right round...

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, that's the time I start jumping over the seat to pull a brake or something. Needs to be a hardware kill switch in the passenger reach here, no calling in or hoping some app works.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Does it have a brake petal? If so I'd imagine that it would still function, even in FSD. You may still be stuck inside the car if the doors won't unlock until the trip is over.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Does it have a brake petal?

The strongest part of a flower!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Hah i'm not even editing that, too funny.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

Whipping shitties with the basilisk

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

That's just the astronaut training feature, not sure why he's complaining.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

You should watch Silicon Vally if you haven’t already.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Awwrrr great. Technology.. solving problems.. that we did not had before.

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