Caught on video: Waymo driverless car avoids hitting person falling off scooter

AUSTIN, Texas - The co-CEO of Waymo shared a video on social media of one of the company's driverless vehicles avoiding hitting a person.

Dmitri Dolgov shared a video on X of the vehicle which he says was driving down a road in Austin. 

The video showed a woman on her scooter stumbling off into oncoming traffic. A Waymo driverless car just behind her swerves into the left-hand lane to avoid her.

These near-life-altering seconds happened on Guadalupe Street near the intersection of W. 29th Street.

Waymo's Director of Product Management, David Margines, stated, "We designed the Waymo Driver to improve safety for all road users, including those outside of vehicles who are more vulnerable. In this instance, you can see the vehicle had slowed down and was planning to give them extra space while passing well before they began to stumble. We're proud that our behavior prediction and fast reaction time helped that person get home safely that night."

But these futuristic-looking cars still have some drivers on edge.

"I probably wouldn't get into one until I was 100 percent sure that they are safe," said Humphreys McGee, an Austin resident. "There's something about a self-driving car that's not real intuitive to me. Of course, cars driven by people aren't 100 percent safe either, but it feels like I'm not 100% in control, and that makes me nervous."

Earlier this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began investigating whether flawed tech was behind a series of Waymo crashes.

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Notably, none of the crashes involved moving vehicles. It was chains, gates, and parked cars. No one was injured or killed.

Others are more excited to see them on the streets.

"I would feel so much safer if there were only Waymo's," said Christopher ‘Toad’ Freels, an Austin resident. "Like that would happen every time. A red light would never be run, ever again. It's programmed into it."

Regardless of how people feel about them, the reaction to the new video is pretty much the same.

"No human has that reaction speed. Literally, no human has that reaction speed," said Freels.

"Well, I'll say this, if it had been a human driver who was texting, that person would have gotten hit," said McGee. "That's very interesting to see that. It will probably still be a little bit of time before I do it though."

Another self-driving car company called Cruise had to suspend operations in Austin in 2023 following a crash and videos showing the car causing traffic congestion.