The tech giant initially said it wouldn’t pay to ship the rider’s luggage back. Waymo offered Di Jin two free rides to pick up his luggage from a depot. As it turns out, there are some advantages to using human-driven taxis. Taking a trip in one of Waymo’s robotaxis should be a smooth and stress-free experience, particularly since there’s no pressure to have an awkward conversation with a driver. However, for one Waymo user in California, taking a robotaxi to the airport left him without luggage for a business trip. In late April, Di Jin took his first ride in one of Waymo’s robotaxis, traveling from Sunnyvale to San Jose Mineta Airport. The self-driving Jaguar I-Pace took him to the airport without issues, but when Jin got out of the car and attempted to open the trunk to get his luggage, the button did nothing. Moments later, the vehicle drove off, still carrying his luggage. Read: Waymo’s Robotaxis Sometimes Receive Guidance By Some Guy In The Philippines Speaking with NBC, Jin said he frantically contacted Waymo customer service but was told the robotaxi couldn’t be turned around and was heading to the depot. He was then forced to board his flight without any of his luggage. The Californian man was informed later in the day that Waymo had retrieved his luggage at the depot. The only problem is that the depot is in San Francisco, and the company refused to pay shipping costs to get it back to Jin. If Jin didn’t want to pay for shipping, Waymo offered him two free rides to and from the depot to pick up his luggage. Waymo Finally Steps Up However, time is money, and Jin didn’t like the idea of wasting two hours getting his luggage. Waymo ultimately relented, confirming that it would pay to deliver his luggage after all. Waymo notes that riders can open the trunk of one of its vehicles by pressing the physical trunk release button on the outside of the vehicle, or by tapping the ‘open trunk’ button in the Waymo app. For this rider, the trunk release apparently didn’t work, and with no human driver behind the wheel, he had no way of immediately notifying the car that he couldn’t retrieve his luggage. Perhaps human-operated taxis aren’t so bad after all. Photos Waymo
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