A Silicon Valley resident’s maiden voyage in a driverless taxi did not exactly end on a high note. Di Jin, a Sunnyvale man, took his very first Waymo ride on a Monday morning, heading from his home to San Jose Mineta Airport for a business trip. The ride itself, he said, went perfectly fine. It was everything that happened in the final 30 seconds that turned his smooth autonomous commute into a travel nightmare.
When Jin arrived at the airport and went to retrieve his luggage from the trunk, he pressed the release button. Nothing happened. Before he could try again, the Waymo simply drove away, his suitcase, work notes, and change of clothes still locked inside. He was left standing at the curb watching a robot car carry off his belongings without so much as a goodbye.
Jin immediately called Waymo customer service, hoping for a quick fix. Instead, he was told the vehicle was already headed back to the depot and there was no way to redirect it. So he did what any determined business traveler would do: he boarded his flight to San Diego and went on his work trip with exactly nothing he packed…