In August, a fire spread over 10 acres of grass by California’s I-280 near Redwood City. Traffic halted as firefighters tackled the fire, and California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers directed drivers to reverse and exit the freeway.
Some drivers faced a new hindrance: a Waymo robotaxi.
Video footage shows the Waymo AV attempting to bypass stopped traffic by driving on the shoulder, ultimately backing away from oncoming wrong-way cars, and then stopping completely.
The robotaxi refused to move, despite the company’s remote assistance team’s attempts. Consequently, Waymo called 911 for assistance.
“Our car can’t turn around,” a Waymo remote assistance worker informed a local 911 dispatcher, based on a recording obtained by TechCrunch via a public records request. The staffer requested officers at the scene to drive the robotaxi off and to arrange a ride for the passenger.
About 30 minutes after Waymo’s 911 call, a CHP officer drove the robotaxi to a nearby park-and-ride lot, a CHP incident report obtained by TechCrunch reveals. From there, a Waymo “roadside assistance” worker drove it away, according to the company.
The Redwood City incident might seem like an edge case—a predictable, slightly awkward situation in Waymo’s expanding robotaxi service.
But this wasn’t an isolated event. Waymo has depended on taxpayer-funded first responders to manage its vehicles during mishaps, even though it has its own roadside assistance team. In at least six events identified by TechCrunch, first responders had to take control of Waymo vehicles to move them out of traffic during emergencies, such as an officer responding to a mass shooting.
Waymo recently faced criticism from lawmakers for using remote assistance employees, including several based in the Philippines, to guide its robotaxis in complex scenarios. Its roadside assistance team has received significantly less scrutiny.
The company’s representatives did not mention the roadside assistance workers during a contentious March 2 hearing in San Francisco concerning the behavior of Waymo’s robotaxis during a major power outage in December. At the meeting, city officials highlighted concerns that stalled autonomous vehicles obstructed or diverted first responders from their duties.
“Our safety officers and responders are increasingly physically moving [Waymos],” Mary Ellen Carroll, San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management’s executive director, stated at the hearing. “It’s almost becoming an assumed roadside assistance for these vehicles, which is not viable.”
Waymo informed TechCrunch that its roadside assistance team cleared many stuck robotaxis during the blackout, with a few still moved by first responders.
“Waymo Roadside Assistance is a specialized team providing additional support to our fleet,” the company emailed TechCrunch. “Our roadside response and service quality prioritize reducing potential community disturbances.”
The company did not respond to TechCrunch’s inquiries about its roadside assistance staff size or which third-party firms might employ them. Waymo also declined to detail plans to expand the team as it aims to launch in about 20 more cities this year, beyond its currents of Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando, Phoenix, San Antonio, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Waymo’s robotaxis deliver over 400,000 paid rides weekly, a result of years developing self-driving technology. They occasionally need human backup in intricate situations, partly due to Waymo’s cautious approach while scaling its service.
Waymo’s robotaxis get guidance from “remote assistance” workers. Around 70 people monitor Waymo’s roughly 3,000-vehicle fleet at all times, according to the company. Half work in the U.S. and half are in the Philippines.
These details, shared in a letter to Congress in February, sparked backlash for Waymo over safety and security worries. Waymo justified the use of remote assistants, asserting the workers are highly qualified and that distance does not introduce delay, whether workers are in Arizona, Michigan, or the Philippines.
“Our vehicle-to-RA connection is as fast as a blink. Median one-way latency is about 150 milliseconds in U.S. centers and 250 milliseconds for RA workers based abroad,” the company wrote on its blog.
Remote assistants carry out limited functions. In complex situations, they might be asked to recommend the best path. Waymo clarifies that these workers “advise and assist [robotaxis] but do not directly control, steer, or drive the vehicle.” They also deal with minor requests from Waymo robotaxis, such as indicating interior cleanliness.
However, this process is imperfect.
The National Transportation Safety Board recently disclosed that a Waymo in Austin requested verification from a remote assistant about a school bus’s activity. Despite stop signs and flashing lights, the assistant mistakenly told the robotaxi it could proceed. The Waymo drove past the bus as it was loading children, with the bus’s stop arms still extended, according to the NTSB.
Waymo informed TechCrunch it “regularly audits RA responses for accuracy. An incident will be flagged for next