Woman has a baby in a Waymo Robotaxi – Jalopnik

Giving birth to people in cars is nothing new, but doing so in a car without a human driver is a new twist. It happened earlier this week in San Francisco when a woman had a baby in a Waymo robotaxi, reports say KRON4. She was already in labor and on her way to the University of California San Francisco Hospital when things took an unexpected turn.

Waymo’s Rider Support Team discovered “unusual activity” in the robotaxi, which is certainly one way to describe what was going on here. The team contacted the rider, quickly discovered what was happening and called 911 on her behalf. However, the Waymo car arrived safely at the hospital with one additional passenger before emergency responders could intercept it. University of California San Francisco Hospital spokesperson Jess Berthold confirmed the arrival of the woman and baby NBC News. She also said that the new mother is unavailable for interviews, so we don’t know anything more about who she is, how she and her baby are doing, or whether she named the baby Waymo to commemorate the unusual birth location.

Robotaxis is far from perfect, from safety issues like not stopping for school buses and casually driving through a crime scene, to innocent technological mishaps like a three-way gridlock, perhaps inspired by the Spider-Man pointing meme or the end of “The good, the bad and the uglyBut data has shown that Waymo robotaxis are generally safer than human drivers, with one doctor calling them “a public health breakthrough.” That appears to be the case here, as the robotaxi was not distracted at all from its task of driving safely during birth. No human driver could stay so focused on driving unless you are this guy. The Waymo car also didn’t drive faster or take unnecessary risks, as many human drivers do at times like this. An ambulance would have been the best choice, but considering how expensive they are If so, a Waymo might be a reasonable alternative in unreasonable times. I bet they don’t even charge extra for the extra passenger.