{"id":328419,"date":"2026-05-22T22:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T22:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/328419\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T22:00:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T22:00:15","slug":"california-driver-trapped-behind-waymos-for-1-hour-makes-frantic-plea-as-robotaxis-ripped-from-freeways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/328419\/","title":{"rendered":"California driver trapped behind Waymos for 1 hour makes frantic plea \u2014 as robotaxis ripped from freeways"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two rogue Waymo<\/a> cars trapped a California driver in her car for an hour earlier this week, forcing her to call police for help \u2014 as the robotaxis have been yanked from freeways for safety testing.<\/p>\n

Emily Offenkrantz said two Waymos cut her off and then refused to move, blocking her through multiple light cycles as traffic piled up behind her and panic set in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just called 911 because I am stuck between two Waymos that are not moving,\u201d Offenkrantz says in the video, which had the caption: \u201cDidn\u2019t expect to fight a Waymo today but here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what else to do because I have a line of cars behind me \u2026 I can\u2019t move.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cI<\/p>\n

\u201cI just called 911 because I am stuck between two Waymos that are not moving,\u201d Offenkrantz said.<\/p>\n

\"Offenkrantz<\/p>\n

Offenkrantz called 911 after waiting for 50 minutes behind the Waymos, she said. She said the operator had already received calls about the car, but she wondered what the officers would do. REUTERS<\/p>\n

\"\u201cIs<\/p>\n

\u201cIs the officer going to argue with a ghost? There\u2019s no one in the car,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Offenkrantz said she called 911 after sitting trapped behind the Waymos for nearly 50 minutes. According to her, the dispatcher said officers had already received complaints about the vehicles \u2014 leaving her wondering what police could even do.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs the officer going to argue with a ghost? There\u2019s no one in the car,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear whether the autonomous vehicles had passengers inside. Riders can contact company support for help navigating issues like this.<\/p>\n

At one point, one of the robotaxis suddenly reversed, sending Offenkrantz into a panic \u2014 but also creating enough space for her to squeeze through.<\/p>\n

She finally escaped after another driver guided her between the two confused robotaxis.<\/p>\n

Still, concerns over the self-driving cars continue to mount.<\/p>\n

The company recently halted its operations on the freeway in several U.S. markets due to concerns about performance issues in construction zones.<\/p>\n

\u201cSafety is Waymo\u2019s top priority, both for our riders and everyone we share the road with,\u201d a Waymo spokesperson said in a statement to FOX Business<\/a>. \u201cWe have temporarily paused freeway\u00a0operations, as we work to integrate recent technical learnings into our software and expect to resume these routes soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The company recently halted its operations on the freeway in several U.S. markets due to concerns about performance issues in construction zones. BACKGRID<\/p>\n

The pause only affects freeway operations, the company said.<\/p>\n

Many a Waymo has landed itself in traffic kerfuffles.<\/p>\n

A Waymo drove a Los Angeles woman the wrong way through a drive-thru restaurant in April<\/a>, causing a similar panic to Offenkrantz\u2019s, except from within the vehicle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWay Way! You gotta go through the drive-thru the other way!\u201d he can be heard shouting.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy bad, bro, you can\u2019t park here,\u201d he joked as the vehicle rolled into position.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two rogue Waymo cars trapped a California driver in her car for an hour earlier this week, forcing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,58320,9,8,136434,136435],"class_list":["post-328419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-driver","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-emily-offenkrantz","tag-freeway-operations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}