Waymo's robotaxis have increasingly turned to police officers and firefighters to rescue them from traffic jams and emergency situations, shifting the burden of vehicle management onto taxpayer-funded first responders. In at least six documented incidents, emergency personnel have had to take control of Waymo vehicles and move them out of traffic, including one case where an officer was responding to a mass shooting .

What Happened During the California Wildfire Incident?

Last August, a wildfire ripped through 10 acres on either side of California's I-280 near Redwood City, forcing the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to direct traffic in the wrong direction to evacuate the area. A Waymo robotaxi, unable to navigate the chaotic scene, attempted to pass stopped traffic by driving on the shoulder but then reversed away from oncoming cars and stopped completely . Despite efforts from Waymo's remote assistance team, the vehicle wouldn't move. Rather than wait for their own roadside assistance workers, Waymo called 911. Roughly 30 minutes later, a CHP officer got behind the wheel and drove the robotaxi to a park-and-ride lot, where one of Waymo's roadside assistance workers took over .

This incident wasn't isolated. The pattern reveals a troubling gap in Waymo's operational infrastructure: the company has a dedicated roadside assistance team, yet it still relies on emergency services to bail out stuck vehicles. During a major power outage in San Francisco in December, Waymo's robotaxis became stranded throughout the city, pulling first responders away from their primary duties .

How Is Waymo Structured to Handle Vehicle Emergencies?

Waymo operates multiple layers of human support for its fleet of roughly 3,000 vehicles, which provide more than 400,000 paid rides per week . Understanding these different teams reveals where the system is breaking down:

• Remote Assistance Workers: Around 70 people monitor the fleet at any given time, with half based in the U.S. and half in the Philippines, helping robotaxis navigate complex situations with a median latency of 150 milliseconds for U.S. operations and 250 milliseconds for overseas workers .
• Roadside Assistance Team: A dedicated group of specialists provides on-the-ground support to clear stuck vehicles, though Waymo declined to specify how many workers comprise this team or which third-party companies employ them .
• Event Response Team: Exclusively based in the U.S., this team responds when Waymo vehicles crash or encounter emergencies, though they work remotely .

Despite having these internal resources, Waymo has repeatedly called 911 when its vehicles get stuck, effectively outsourcing emergency response to taxpayer-funded services. Mary Ellen Carroll, executive director of San Francisco's Department of Emergency Management, raised this concern directly at a March 2 hearing about Waymo's behavior during the December blackout .

"What has started to happen is that our public safety officers and responders are having to be the ones to physically move Waymos. In a sense, they're becoming a default roadside assistance for these vehicles, which we do not think is tenable," stated Mary Ellen Carroll, executive director of San Francisco's Department of Emergency Management.

Mary Ellen Carroll, Executive Director, San Francisco Department of Emergency Management

Waymo told TechCrunch that its roadside assistance workers cleared dozens of stuck robotaxis during the blackout, with only a handful requiring first responder intervention . However, the company declined to answer questions about how it plans to scale this team as it expands to approximately 20 additional cities this year, beyond its current markets in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando, Phoenix, San Antonio, and the San Francisco Bay Area .

Why Does Waymo's Remote Assistance System Matter to This Problem?

The reliance on first responders also highlights vulnerabilities in Waymo's remote assistance infrastructure. In January, a Waymo in Austin asked a remote assistance worker to confirm whether a nearby school bus was loading or unloading children. The stop sign and flashing lights were deployed, but the remote assistance worker incorrectly told the robotaxi it could proceed, and the vehicle drove past the school bus as it was loading children with the bus's stop arms still extended, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) .

This incident, combined with the pattern of stuck vehicles requiring police intervention, suggests that Waymo's human support systems are stretched thin. The company has faced criticism from lawmakers over its use of remote assistance employees, particularly the few dozen who work from the Philippines, raising concerns about safety and security . Yet the roadside assistance team, which physically manages stranded vehicles, has received far less public scrutiny, even though it directly impacts emergency services.

Waymo stated that it "regularly audits RA responses, including correctness. If an incident is captured, it will be immediately flagged for next steps, ranging from additional coaching to full decertification" . The company also emphasized that its "vehicle-to-RA connection is as fast as the blink of an eye," with response times measured in milliseconds . However, these assurances don't address the fundamental issue: when Waymo's systems fail, emergency responders become the fallback, and that cost is borne by taxpayers, not the company.

Waymo

As Waymo scales its service to 20 more cities this year, the question of who bears responsibility for stuck robotaxis becomes increasingly urgent. The company's roadside assistance team exists precisely to handle these situations, yet first responders continue to be called in. Without clarity on how Waymo will scale its internal response capacity, cities may find themselves subsidizing the autonomous vehicle industry through their emergency services.