Rideshare programs became popular despite breaking common sense rules like no getting into cars with strangers and no meeting anyone from the internet by sending strangers straight to user’s locations via an internet-enabled app. Waymo taxis were supposed to bring safety back to the streets in more way than one, but one woman in Los Angeles discovered this week that using a Waymo taxi cab isn’t a sure-fire way of avoiding awkward small talk or dangerous situations.
In what will most certainly make the list of worst Taxi and rideshare horror stories, a woman in MacArthur Park in Los Angeles discovered a man in the trunk of an SUV-type Waymo robotaxi, ABC News affiliate KABC reports. The woman, with her young daughter in tow, started recording video of the man through the open car door soon after the robotaxi arrived. The man, with only his face and one hand showing above the Waymo’s rear seat, appeared stuck in the trunk, saying it “won’t let me out.” He apparently climbed back their after a previous rider left the trunk door open.
@luckythurman I ordered a Waymo for my daughter and a random was in the trunk. #viralvideo #fyp #waymo
Waymo’s rider support team reached out to the woman to ensure her and her daughter were not harmed. In a follow up TikTok video we can hear Waymo support issuing the customer a credit and see a person being detained by police on the sidewalk past the rear of the Waymo taxi.The KABC shared the following response from a Waymo representative:
“We’re committed to keeping our riders safe and earning the trust of the communities where we operate. This experience was unacceptable, and we are actively implementing changes to address this.”
Fortunately, no injuries were reported, other than possible emotional trauma for all involved.
The driverless robotaxi service has Waymo problems than a stowaway
It’s odd that someone could stowaway in the trunk of a Waymo robotaxi with its bevy of cameras and sensors. For example, a San Francisco Waymo sensed “unusual activity,” prompting its remote rider support team to initiate a call to check on the passenger to find a woman having a baby in the robotaxi.
Other incidents sparking safety concerns involve vehicles used by the robotaxi service hitting a dog that was roaming loose in the street and another that killed a San Francisco neighborhood cat, known as KitKat and the unofficial “Mayor of 16th Street.”
Waymo recently recalled over 3,000 of its robotaxis due to the car’s habit of blowing through school bus extended stop signs in Austin, Texas. The company pushed a fix that did not end up fixing the problem. In total, the Austin Independent School District is aware of 20 such incidents so far in the 2025 school year. Another Waymo recently drove through a felony traffic stop as well. Waymo is not alone in its self-driving vehicles being messed up by emergency lights. It seem first responder flashers confuse everything from Waymos to Teslas.
While Waymo admittedly has some bugs to work out, at least one doctor credits Waymo robotaxis with saving lives. Despite Waymo’s relatively few, but highly publicized problems, passengers in the autonomous vehicles employed by the robotaxi service are actually safer than those in vehicles driven by humans, according to Waymo Safety Impact data.
