A viral Instagram reel shows a self-driving car operated by Waymo coming to a halt in the middle of a street — leaving another vehicle unable to exit its parking space. In the short clip, a car is seen attempting to pull out, but the Waymo vehicle appears to be stationary in the road, blocking the manoeuvre.
A passenger inside the Waymo then gets out and begins waving his arms in an attempt to prompt the autonomous vehicle to move. He can be heard saying:
“Hey Waymo, please move. Waymo, please move.”
In a humorous twist, the man then jokes, saying “Alexa” — a clear reference to Amazon’s AI voice assistant — as if the robotaxi might respond to voice commands in the same way a smart speaker would.
The clip ends shortly after, leaving viewers with unanswered questions. Did the Waymo eventually move? Is the parked car still stuck there?
We simply don’t know — the video cuts before any resolution is shown.
DM News Commentary
Moments like this highlight the reality of driverless technology: when things work, they’re seamless — but when they hesitate or misjudge positioning, human frustration quickly takes over.
In a traditional taxi, the driver would instantly reposition the vehicle. With a fully autonomous system like Waymo, the response depends entirely on its programming and sensors.
The passenger jokingly calling out “Alexa” perfectly captures public perception right now — many people still see autonomous vehicles as large AI gadgets rather than road-aware decision makers.
We’ve reported before on unusual driverless incidents, and while these moments are rare compared to total miles driven, they’re the ones that go viral. They also raise a wider question: when a self-driving car causes minor disruption, who actually takes control?
Until clips like this show the full outcome, we’re left guessing.
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