Alphabet subsidiary Waymo is currently the most advanced company in the world in terms of autonomous vehicles. In a few American cities, it already offers a mobile application that allows you to use its taxis without a driver. According to the latest official data, this service already provides 150,000 journeys per week.
What happens if someone tries to take control?
Following an incident that occurred in Los Angeles, Waymo explained to the Los Angeles Times how it secures its robotaxis. First of all, the door handles fold during journeys, so that they are not accessible to people from the outside. But if a person still manages to enter the vehicle (or if a passenger tries to take the controls), Waymo explains that they will not be able to override the vehicle’s autonomous driving system to take control of it. The vehicle may also maneuver “evasively”, honk the horn or make other sounds.
In addition, Waymo teams have the possibility of communicating with the person who is trying to take control of the vehicle, to ask them to get out. During the incident in Los Angeles, the person who sat in the driver’s seat to try to take control of the autonomous vehicle was first contacted by Waymo teams. But when she refused to get out of the vehicle, the company called the police.
A rare situation
In any case, Waymo assures that this type of incident is very rare. Quoted by the Los Angeles Times, the company explains that, out of more than 5 million trips made with Waymo, only a “handful” of people have attempted to take control of the autonomous car.
As a reminder, Waymo’s robotaxis, although equipped with autonomous driving, still have a steering wheel and pedals. However, this will not be the case for Tesla’s Cybercab nor for the robotaxis operated by the Zook company.
- In the United States, Waymo already operates a fleet of driverless robotaxis
- Following an incident that took place in Los Angeles, the Alphabet subsidiary explained how these autonomous vehicles are secure
- An unauthorized person will not be able to override the autonomous driving device
- In any case, it is very rare that people try to take control of Waymo’s autonomous vehicles
