Traffic & Transit
Woman Discovers Man Inside The Trunk Of Her LA Waymo Ride: Video
The incident was startling but not a crime, according to police.
LOS ANGELES, CA — The Waymo saga continues, this time as a viral video shows a random man being found in the trunk of one of the company's robotaxis by a passenger, raising concerns about safety.
As it turns out, getting stuck in the trunk of a robotaxi isn't a crime, according to police.
The TikTok video was posted two days ago and has amassed more than 300,000 likes since. The incident happened Dec. 8 at 10:54 a.m. at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Westlake Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
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"Why the (expletive) are you in the trunk?" a woman can be heard asking the man in the video.
"That's why, ma'am, I'm trying to figure this out," the man responds. "This (expletive) won't let me out."
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The man goes on to say, "the people" put him inside the trunk. He never elaborates on who those people are.
A second video posted by the same account shows officers at the scene, seemingly talking with the man who was found in the trunk of the robotaxi and a Waymo operator offering the passenger a credit for a new ride.
The officers "determined there was no evidence of a crime," LAPD Officer Tony Im told Patch. "I guess he accidentally did that. At the end of the day, he was not in any distress."
The man may not have been in distress, but the woman in the video appeared to be, and commenters on TikTok had a lot to say about it.
"He took a ride, got out, acted like he was getting something out of the trunk, and got back in," wrote one person. "He was 100% waiting for a victim!"
"29 cameras inside and outside of the car, but they didn’t notice somebody hop in the trunk?," asked another.
Waymo told KRON4 that its rider support team assisted the rider. The company told the news outlet it has methods in place for situations like these and is actively working to improve them.
The incident comes on the heels of other news involving the Bay Area company. Earlier this week, a woman gave birth inside a Waymo while on the way to a San Francisco hospital.
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