When a five-alarm fire tore through an Oak Cliff apartment complex last week, the immediate concern was getting fire engines to the building fast enough to matter. Three people had died, five others were injured, and more than 100 firefighters were converging on The Clyde apartments near East 9th Street and North Patton Avenue. Every second counted, and a driverless robotaxi was sitting sideways in the road.
Dallas County Precinct 5 Deputy Constable Jonathan Banda was among the first law enforcement officers on scene. His body camera captured what followed: a prolonged, increasingly urgent negotiation with an empty Jaguar I-Pace wearing Waymo branding. Banda tried shouting at it.
He tried reaching in and grabbing the steering wheel. He pressed a button for rider support and waited over a minute for anyone to respond. When a remote Waymo employee finally came on the line and was told there was a fire around the corner and the vehicle was blocking the roadway, the employee’s assessment was that the system was experiencing “a minor issue.”…