A state trooper in Georgia just went viral after he admitted to a driver that he had absolutely no idea how to handle a traffic accident involving a Waymo self-driving car. This incident, which unfolded on the side of a highway, is raising serious questions about how prepared law enforcement agencies truly are for the rapidly increasing presence of autonomous vehicles on public roads.
The whole bizarre scenario was captured by TikTok creator @chosendesserts, who was involved in the collision. She posted a clip while she was pulled over on the shoulder, explaining that she had been stuck there for a frustratingly long time waiting for the Georgia State Police to figure out what to do.
It’s crazy to think about the delay a simple fender-bender can cause when automated tech is involved. The creator explained that she sat there for over an hour because the responding officer was totally stumped, per Daily Dot.
Her insurance premium is gonna get Waymo higher
“I literally been sitting here for a whole hour because I got into an accident with a Waymo,” she said in the video. The situation wasn’t getting resolved quickly at all. “The officer has been in his car for 30 minutes. He said this is his first Waymo accident, and he don’t know what to do either.”
If you’re sitting on the side of the road after an accident, the last thing you want to hear is that the person who is supposed to help you is completely lost. But as the driver later clarified in a follow-up post, the confusion wasn’t limited to just that single trooper.
She explained that the problem was much bigger than one confused cop. She added, “The whole department didn’t know what to do. That’s why it took him an hour cause they all had to figure it out.” This is so interesting that I’m glad the first thought was to record, because what can anyone do?
@chosendesserts Not me needing to sell Waymo cakes because my insurance is about to be WAYYYYMO
♬ original sound – ChosendessertsReal part 2 answering your questions drops tonight!!
This is awful for Waymo, frankly. It’s absolutely negligent that a major company deploying autonomous vehicles across states hasn’t established clear, immediate protocols for handling basic traffic incidents that police departments can follow. When a standard car gets into a crash, the paperwork is routine, but when you introduce a driverless component, the liability and reporting requirements suddenly become completely opaque, even to the authorities.
You can’t just throw new technology onto the streets without training the people responsible for managing emergencies. Luckily, there’s a dashcam on every Waymo, which some drivers don’t like to see, but it will help in this case.
Many commenters urged the driver to seek serious compensation from Waymo. They argued that the company’s apparent failure to provide clear instructions or immediately accessible customer service for law enforcement dealing with a crash is a huge safety and procedural failure.
Of course, because this is the internet, people also had time to crack some hilarious, if slightly devastating, puns based on the company’s name. One person joked that the driver should have “paid Waymo attention.” Another user chimed in, saying, “You finna get Waymo money,” referencing the potential for a large settlement. The humor helped lighten the mood for viewers, but it didn’t distract from the core issue.
