On June 19, a Phoenix police officer stopped a Waymo vehicle that was traveling in an oncoming lane of traffic. The car reportedly encountered construction signs and ran a red light before stopping in a parking lot to allow the officer to speak to one of Waymo’s customer service representatives.
In about two and a half minutes of body camera footage published by a local publication AZCentral, tThe officer told Waymo that the car was driving through a construction zone when it “ended up in the opposite lane of traffic, which is really bad.” He later told a curious passerby what happened, adding, “So I put the light on and it just went into the intersection.” An operations report reportedly said the car ran a red light and “WAP” before stopping.
Waymo told multiple media outlets that the vehicle veered into the opposite lane due to “inconsistent construction signage” and was “unable to return to the proper lane.” The company said the car pulled away from the officer “in an effort to clear the intersection” before pulling into the parking lot where the traffic stop took place. The company reportedly said the stop lasted “approximately one minute.”
