ALAMO HEIGHTS, Texas – Travelling the wrong way on a one-way street could land any driver in hot water, especially in a school zone. But what happens when there is no driver to blame?
That’s the question Alamo Heights Police Department officers found themselves asking after an autonomous Waymo drove the opposite way of a one-way street outside Cambridge Elementary School on Wednesday.
A video shared with KSAT captured the incident with a police officer looking on, powerless to stop it.
“It was very concerning, very scary,” said one parent who chose not to show her face on camera.
The woman said she was in a crosswalk on Townsend Avenue at the time, taking her daughter to school, when the driverless car headed toward oncoming traffic.
“The Waymo car actually evaded and went around the cop, and we had to back out of the walkway,” she said. “I mean, this is a busy time. There were kids, parents everywhere. Cars. It’s rush hour.”
Signs posted along the street where this happened indicate traffic may only travel one way during morning drop-offs and afternoon pick-ups, from 7 to 9 a.m. and between 2 to 4 p.m.
The Alamo Heights Independent School District said in a statement that it was made aware of what happened, and notified the Alamo Heights Police Department.
Deputy Chief Cindy Pruitt told KSAT 12 off camera that there were actually two wrong-way incidents this week involving Waymo Cars.
In addition to the Wednesday morning mix-up, she said there was another incident Monday.
Pruitt said her department contacted Waymo, sharing information about the daily changes to traffic patterns in that area.
A Waymo spokesperson said the trust and safety of the communities they serve are their top priorities.
“We reviewed this event (Wednesday),” he said in a statement, “and have already made adjustments to our operations accordingly.”
Other parents at the school expressed concerns off-camera.
However, Leigh Henderson said she blames the city’s infrastructure for the problem, rather than the innovative taxi.
“This is a very unique intersection, so it doesn’t surprise me that it was going the wrong way,” she said. “We need paint. We need lines. We need signs. We got streets all around here without stop signs.”
Henderson said what worries her more than driverless cars are human drivers, who also make mistakes.
“Some of these parents and some of these other drivers will be going the wrong way day after day after day,” she said.
Police said there were no injuries or damage reported as a result of the two wrong-way incidents.
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