An unusual incident took place in the American city of Phoenix last week, which reopened the debate on the safety of autonomous vehicles. Waymo’s robot taxi, which was carrying one passenger, took a wrong turn and continued driving on the city’s light rail tracks. According to the available videos that soon went viral, the vehicle stopped on the tracks themselves, which caused panic among the passengers who, realizing the danger of the oncoming train, suddenly left the vehicle and ran to safety.
Although the train was able to stop in time and ultimately avoid a collision, the situation was extremely dangerous as the autonomous car remained “confused” on the track, trying to maneuver back and forth while other railway vehicles were in close proximity.
The incident occurred near the intersection of the two avenues, in an area where construction work has recently taken place and light rail tracks have been added in the past year. Experts hypothesize that these changes in infrastructure, combined with work zones, may have confused the navigation system of Waymo’s autonomous vehicle. The company has been asked to conduct an investigation that will show why safety protocols did not prevent vehicles from entering the zone intended exclusively for vehicles on rails.