On December 27, a Waymo robotaxi and a Serve Robotics sidewalk delivery robot collided at an intersection in Los Angeles, according to a video making the rounds on social media.
The footage shows a Serve bot crossing a street in West Hollywood at night and trying to get onto the sidewalk. He reached the curb, stood up a little to right himself, and began to move toward the ramp. That’s when a Waymo making a right turn hit the little robot.
The person who posted the video said the Serve robot had run a red light before the crash, though that’s not clear from the footage.
A Reddit user commented on the video saying, “Waymo computers: ‘Doesn’t appear to be human or animal.'” No life form detected ‘BAM!’
And while that comment was likely made in jest, the sentiment isn’t exactly wrong.
When TechCrunch asked Waymo if the robotaxi saw the robot, a spokesperson said that the Waymo Driver system correctly noted that the delivery robot was an inanimate object. The driver is designed to be a cautious defensive driver that prioritizes the safest driving path with the information it has at any given moment and its ability to classify and distinguish between different types of road users and objects informs its behavior around them. For example, the Driver is programmed to be more careful with children and pedestrians.
That doesn’t mean Waymo’s driver will simply destroy anything inanimate; in this case, the delivery robot had stopped at the curb before entering the vehicle’s turn lane just as the Waymo robotaxi entered the intersection. At that point, the Waymo driver applied hard braking before making contact with the delivery robot at 4 miles per hour, according to the Waymo spokesperson.
The AV was not damaged either and the two remained locked for a minute before going their separate ways. But as more autonomous vehicles hit public roads, one must ask what happens when they crash? How do companies decide which robot, and therefore, which company is liable in case of damage?
Based on previous information Waymo has provided TechCrunch, when a crash occurs, Waymo’s driver notifies the company’s Fleet Response and Rider Support teams. The Fleet Response Team examines the scene remotely and dispatches a roadside assistance representative if necessary. The Rider Support Team checks the rider’s status and, if appropriate, contacts first responders.
In this specific case, there were no passengers inside the robotax. It’s not clear if the Fleet Response team was alerted to this crash, or if the Waymo robotaxi or the Serve robot required humans to help get out of the jam remotely.
A Serve spokesperson told TechCrunch that this is the first case of one of its robots colliding with a robotaxi, and confirmed that since the robot was under the supervisor’s remote control at the time of the incident, it is still part of the playbook to Serve for intersections of intersections.
TechCrunch was unable to get more concrete answers from Waymo or Serve about specifics about liability in the event of future incidents that could result in more damages. Spokespeople from both companies have confirmed they have been in contact to work to avoid similar issues in the future.
