Waymo's robotaxi drove into the oncoming lane while trying to avoid a group of monocyclists

In San Francisco, a Waymo unmanned car veered into the oncoming lane of traffic to avoid a group of monocyclists and people on electric scooters travelling down the street. The incident happened around 9:30 p.m. local time on Friday at the intersection of Mission and First streets in the Market District.

Here's What We Know

At least two eyewitnesses captured the incident on video, including from the perspective of one of the cyclists. The footage shows a crowd of cyclists crossing the intersection, with Waymo's unmanned car initially following them in the right lane. However, the robot car then suddenly pulls out into one of the two left lanes in an attempt to overtake the group.

Longer video of the wrong way incident
byu/okgusto inSelfDrivingCars

As a result, Waymo ended up in the oncoming lane, which fortunately was free at the time. After travelling like this for about half an hour, the drone was forced to stop when one of the cyclists pulled out in front of it. After the crowd parted, Waymo was able to get back into the right lane.

The company attributed the manoeuvre to the fact that the car's safety system detected a "human fall risk" in that group and decided to overtake when the oncoming lane was clear. It is also noted that the drone "out of an abundance of caution" continued in the oncoming lane longer than required.

Waymo's statement emphasises that the safety of all road users is the top priority. That said, the company is prepared to learn from the incident.

This is not the first time Waymo's unmanned cars have been involved in traffic accidents in San Francisco. Last year, one of the cars hit a dog, and in February, it hit a cyclist. The company insisted the accidents were unavoidable due to a lack of response time.

Source: The Register