A downtown Austin confrontation between a group of people and a Waymo self-driving car took an ugly turn when one of the men allegedly “put hands on” the woman filming the incident. The bizarre scene—partly captured in a video—unfolded over nearly 20 minutes as the group attempted to force their way into the autonomous vehicle, blocking traffic and resulting in police intervention.
TikTok user Avery Anne (@iamaveryanne) captured the entire incident in a three-minute video that has garnered over 10,000 views in roughly 24 hours. What started as documenting what she called people “fighting with a driverless vehicle” quickly escalated when one of the men allegedly grabbed her phone and injured her finger.
“I was downtown for a mic and these people were fighting with this Waymo,” Avery Anne explains in her video commentary. “I tried to be really nice to them and explain how the Waymos work. And they were being very hard-headed and very rude.”
The Waymo Standoff
The confrontation began when a group of people surrounded a Waymo autonomous vehicle in downtown Austin, Texas, apparently trying to get the car to accept them as passengers. Avery Anne, who has experience with Waymo vehicles from previous TikTok content, attempted to help explain how the service works…