Waymo Robotaxis Force First Responders Into Roadside Assistance Role as Fleet Expands to Ten Cities
A TechCrunch investigation identifies at least six incidents where police and firefighters had to manually drive Waymo vehicles during emergencies, including an Austin mass shooting and a California wildfire.
Overview
A growing pattern of incidents in which taxpayer-funded emergency personnel have had to take physical control of Waymo robotaxis during crises is drawing scrutiny from city officials and federal regulators as the company pushes to double its operational footprint in 2026. An investigation by TechCrunch published on March 25 identified at least six cases in which police officers or firefighters manually drove Waymo vehicles out of harm’s way, including during an active mass shooting response and a highway wildfire evacuation.
Waymo currently operates a fleet of approximately 3,000 vehicles across ten U.S. cities, completing more than 400,000 paid rides per week, according to TechCrunch. The company plans to expand to 20 additional cities this year.
What We Know
The incidents span multiple cities and types of emergencies. In Austin, Texas, on March 2, a Waymo robotaxi blocked an ambulance responding to a mass shooting on West 6th Street that killed three people and wounded 13, according to Axios. Bystander video showed the vehicle executing a U-turn when the ambulance arrived with lights flashing; the car intermittently moved and stopped as witnesses shouted at it. A police officer ultimately communicated with Waymo through the car’s speakers and directed the company to move it to a nearby parking garage. Austin-Travis County EMS officials said the delay did not affect patient outcomes, with responders reaching the scene within roughly 57 seconds.
In a separate incident in August 2025, a Waymo vehicle became stranded during a grass fire on Interstate 280 near Redwood City, California, according to TechCrunch. The California Highway Patrol was directing traffic to reverse on the freeway, but the robotaxi could not execute the maneuver. A remote assistance worker called 911, and a CHP officer spent approximately 30 minutes manually relocating the vehicle to a park-and-ride lot.
Other documented cases include a February 2026 incident in Atlanta where a Waymo drove into an active crime scene and had to be disengaged by a first responder, and a Nashville incident during the week of March 25 in which an officer manually drove a stalled robotaxi from an intersection, according to TechCrunch.
The pattern extends beyond individual emergencies. During a December 2025 power outage in San Francisco caused by a PG&E substation fire, nearly 1,600 Waymo vehicles experienced stoppages lasting at least two minutes, and more than 60 had to be manually moved, according to TechCrunch. A 911 dispatcher was placed on hold for 53 minutes when trying to reach Waymo’s first responder line.
At a San Francisco Board of Supervisors hearing in early March, city emergency management officials challenged Waymo’s reliance on public safety personnel. Supervisor Alan Wong stated that first responders “should not be AAA roadside assistance,” while Supervisor Bilal Mahmood questioned the gap between the 30-second emergency response time that California’s AB 1777 will require by July 2026 and the 53 minutes a dispatcher experienced during the blackout, according to TechCrunch.
Waymo’s fleet relies on a remote assistance team of approximately 70 workers, split between the United States and the Philippines, who monitor vehicles and provide guidance but do not directly drive them, according to TechCrunch. The company said it has trained more than 30,000 first responders globally on how to interact with its vehicles.
Separately, the National Transportation Safety Board opened a probe in January into Waymo vehicles illegally passing stopped school buses, joining an existing investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on the same issue, according to TechCrunch.
What We Don’t Know
The full scope of first responder interventions remains unclear. The six incidents documented by TechCrunch were identified through public records, body camera footage, and interviews, but the total number of cases across all ten cities where Waymo operates has not been disclosed. It is also unknown how many times Waymo’s own roadside assistance team successfully resolved situations before first responders intervened.
Whether the upcoming AB 1777 mandate, which requires autonomous vehicle operators to answer first responder calls within 30 seconds starting July 1, 2026, will meaningfully reduce the burden on emergency personnel remains to be seen. The law addresses response times but does not directly solve the underlying problem of vehicles that cannot navigate unforeseen scenarios without human intervention.
The cost to municipalities of diverting emergency personnel to manage stranded robotaxis has not been quantified. Several Austin City Council members have invited Waymo to a joint committee hearing scheduled for April 29 to discuss accountability measures, according to Axios.