Waymo's driverless taxis are now in Tampa.
But the service went viral when video shot by confused passengers showed a car going rogue after a Tampa Bay Bucs game on Oct. 4.
Matthew Reardon was with a group of friends from the University of Tampa heading back to campus from Raymond James Stadium.
Reardon said, not long after getting into their car, it refused to make a turn for 30 minutes. He said they were happy at first to get out of the heat, but soon grew frustrated.
“I know any human driver would have taken the turn probably 20 minutes before that and we could have been home, but there wasn't much we could do,” Reardon said.
Other cars trying to get by them started honking and yelling.
“People were going past the crosswalks, kind of taunting us and pointing and laughing because we'd been sitting there for so long,” Reardon said.
Then, the group called Waymo support.
Just as a support team member answered, the car finally turned.
Unfortunately, it was into oncoming traffic.
"It had kind of just took a turn to the left and it spun the wheel all the way right – and we all kind of started freaking out, we didn't really know what to do,” Reardon said.
The car came to a stop without hitting anything.
After sitting in shock for a few minutes, the group got out of the car, walked 40 minutes closer to the UT campus and then took an Uber the rest of the way home.
Reardon said even though this experience with a driverless taxi was potentially dangerous, he would still take another ride – but not around a big crowd.
“It is a cheap option, it's kind of fun, you can listen to your own music,” Reardon said. “I do trust technology to an extent – I think it is very cool and I probably would take one again.”
This isn’t the first time a Waymo has experienced an issue like this.
In Scottsdale, Arizona early last year, a passenger was trapped inside as the robo-taxi spun in circles around a parking lot.
WUSF has reached out multiple times to Waymo for comment, we have yet to hear back.
