Los Angeles is hosting the FIFA World Cup this summer, which means the streets around SoFi Stadium in Inglewood are packed with fans from every corner of the planet. Traffic near Century and Crenshaw boulevards has been a mess on match days, and local drivers are already dealing with more chaos than usual. That’s a tough environment for anyone behind the wheel. It turns out it’s also a tough environment for a computer.
A Waymo self-driving vehicle was caught on video crossing over the double yellow line near the Century and Crenshaw intersection, putting itself squarely in the path of oncoming traffic. The footage was recorded by a driver named Kimoon Kim, who happened to be right there when it happened. He said he was genuinely worried a serious collision was about to occur.
The robotaxi didn’t stay put. After sitting on the wrong side of the road for a stretch, the vehicle abruptly cut back across and merged into the correct lane — right in front of Kim’s car. So it resolved the situation, more or less, though not in the smoothest way imaginable…