Waymo’s autonomous vehicles just caused another terrifying traffic safety incident, with producer and actress Mikayla Petrilla posting video footage of her Waymo ride straight-up running a red light last week on TikTok. You can’t make this stuff up: as the self-driving car cruised toward an intersection in California, the light turned yellow. Instead of slowing down or stopping like it should have, the vehicle maintained its speed and crossed the solid red line, leaving its passengers absolutely yelling in alarm.
In a seven-second TikTok video, Petrilla (@heyitsmikayy) filmed the whole fiasco unfolding, narrating her shock as the AI driver went totally rogue. “Are you gonna run it?” she asked the car, a question that was immediately followed by a frantic, “You’re running the light! You’re running the light! You just ran the light!” According to The Daily Dot, she later confirmed what we all saw: “That’s right—my Waymo straight up ran a red light.”
The worst part is, the light turned yellow while the car was still pretty far out from the intersection, which means it had plenty of time to safely hit the brakes. Instead, it was like the car decided yellow meant ‘accelerate,’ and it didn’t even slow down. The light was fully red, and they weren’t even halfway across the intersection yet. Usually, you can grab the wheel of a self-driving car, but no one was in the driver’s seat.
Waymo needs to change a few settings
If you’ve ever driven yourself, you know that’s a guaranteed way to get pulled over instantly if a cop sees it. The thing is, this whole incident happened in California, and even there, the DMV requires vehicles to stop at a yellow light if it’s safe to do so. To be fair, this one had all the time in the world to make that safe stop, which it just completely failed to do.
But the real question here isn’t whether or not the car broke the law—it’s whether it prioritized safety. As one commenter, @pandakrystal_, asserted, “regardless of whether it is legal, Waymo should have chosen the safest option, which is slowing down.” And honestly, I have to agree. You’re talking about a self-driving taxi that’s supposed to be the future of transportation, but it’s making reckless decisions that put human lives at risk.
Petrilla herself echoed that sentiment, responding to the comment with: “This what I’m here to say, yes!! It is extremely unclear how sharp the reflexes of the car are if there’s an issue at the intersection.” That’s such a valid point. If there’s even a moment of confusion or a technical error, how quickly can this thing react?
She brought up the truly terrifying question, “If there was an accident, I don’t even know the protocol and the website does not state either! Do I invite the person we hit into the Waymo to talk to customer service.” I mean, I’m laughing, but I’m also kind of terrified, because the process sounds incredibly confusing, which is awful for anyone using a service like this.
