[AutonomousVehicles] Waymo Vehicles getting confused in Atlanta

[Cornelius Butler]

Some Waymo Vehicles are getting confused in Atlanta.

Article URL:
https://www.ajc.com/business/2025/08/waymos-havent-caused-crashes-in-atlanta-so-far-but-some-are-getting-confused/

ArticleText:

It’s been a month since Waymo’s autonomous vehicles started taking fares
broadly on Atlanta’s streets via the Uber app after more than a year of
testing the cars without passengers.

Four other APD reports involving Waymo vehicles in that time concerned
damaged or lost property, and one was categorized as “miscellaneous
non-crime,” records obtained by the AJC show.

But social media videos of confused Waymos around Atlanta have flowed.

In late June, the popular Instagram account @gafollowersofficial reposted a
video of a Waymo stopping in the middle of the 17th and Spring Streets
intersection.

Other videos depict Waymos stopping in the middle of a lane without traffic
and struggling to navigate construction zones.

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Commenters made jokes under the posts about the cars causing “way mo[r
traffic.”

In May, a Waymo disrupted a car-free Streets Alive event when it bypassed
barricades.

“Not everything you see on social media provides the full picture — context
is very important and there are often several possibilities,” Waymo
spokesman Ethan Teicher wrote in an email to The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution about the social media videos.

A Waymo might be waiting to proceed around “unseen obstacles or ambiguous
traffic control,” checking with its fleet response team or waiting to pull
over because a door was left open, Teicher explained.

Riders who need assistance can access Waymo’s response team 24/7, Teicher
said, which can help the rider or provide context to the vehicle itself to
navigate a complex or unfamiliar scenario.


Ethan Teicher, public relations manager with Waymo, poses on the side of
one of the self-driving Waymo vehicles at Ponce City Market in Atlanta on
Monday, June 23, 2025. (Miguel Martinez/ AJC)
If a ride ends early because of a vehicle issue, riders will get refunds
and trip credits, he said. And the company will “ensure the entire fleet of
vehicles learns from these scenarios.”

Waymo began testing its fleet of electric SUVs in Atlanta last year and
started offering early access rides via Uber in May.

Lyft, meanwhile, is testing its fleet of robotaxis and has announced plans
to launch rides in Midtown Atlanta this summer in partnership with
autonomous driving technology company May Mobility.

On the streets
Lynne Hardy was walking down Peachtree Street near Harris Street when she
saw a Waymo encounter a delivery robot in the crosswalk.

“But the Waymo never stopped,” the Decatur resident told the AJC via email.

“The delivery robot immediately stopped and backed up. If they had crashed,
who would have called the police?”

According to Srinivas Peeta, a civil engineering professor at Georgia Tech,
learning to handle new situations like this, especially involving other
drivers and pedestrians, is key for Waymos and other AVs.

Peeta directs Tech’s Autonomous & Connected Transportation Lab, which
studies AVs and their rollout in Atlanta.

Videos of confused or stopped Waymos, he said, are “not particularly
surprising, because these autonomous driving systems are facing situations
that they have not been familiar with.”

AVs are designed to drive “independent of any input from humans.” But they
are vastly outnumbered by human drivers, who can act unpredictably.

Plus, the current infrastructure is designed for humans, according to
Peeta. Insufficient street markings can confuse AVs.

AVs act based on data and sensor input, which can make it hard to react in
real time, something humans are more easily able to do.

“That’s why they freeze,” Peeta said. “They are suddenly stopping because
they’re trying to process.”

The more they learn, the fewer incidents of confused cars are likely, he
said.

In Atlanta, they’re learning to navigate complicated intersections and
summer thunderstorms, he said.


A photograph of a self-driving Waymo vehicle in motion during a self-test
drive on Monday, June 23, 2025. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)
‘Out of a sci-fi movie’
Garrett Townsend, a Canton resident, was initially skeptical of Waymos: “It
felt like something out of a sci-fi movie.”

But after a ride in Midtown, Townsend — who works for the auto club AAA —
was won over.

“The rides are smooth, the car follows every rule, and it’s actually kind
of cool to just sit back and relax,” he said.

Waymo has not released Atlanta-specific safety or ridership data, but the
company says its vehicles are involved in nearly 80% fewer injury-causing
collisions than human drivers.

According to police reports reviewed by the AJC, the collision incidents
involving Waymos in the last year and a half have only involved other
drivers hitting Waymos — and no major injuries.

APD policy on Waymos states that the court system currently is “unable to
process traffic citations for AVs with no human operator.”

This means that if a Waymo is pulled over, the officer must file a report
on the incident and any law violated, but no citation is given. If the AV
has a human driver, the driver will be given a citation and held
responsible for it.

>From 2020 through March 2025, Waymo vehicles were involved — though not
necessarily at fault — in 64 crashes nationally resulting in any injury.
That’s according to Waymo data reported to the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration, which did not include Atlanta.

Only two involved suspected serious injuries. Per the same data, 659
incidents resulted in property damage.

The technology is trained to recognize emergency vehicle lights and sirens
using audio sensors that work with its cameras, LiDAR, a nd radar sensors.

If a Waymo gets pulled over, someone from rider support will call in to
speak with law enforcement, Teicher explained.

While Waymo has yet to venture onto Atlanta’s notorious freeways with
riders, they are training on them with specialists behind the wheel, he
said.


Waymo is about to launch on the Uber app in Atlanta.
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