Waymo steers to avoid an oncoming wrong-way driver at night

Summary

According to the linked video, at night a Waymo steered to avoid an oncoming vehicle travelling the wrong way; no contact occurred.

Written by White Box Autonomy from the sources listed below.

What is observable from the evidence

• An oncoming vehicle was travelling the wrong way at night.
• The Waymo steered to avoid it.
• No contact occurred.

Automation status

Driving automation engaged — reported, not confirmed

Whether the driving-automation feature was engaged is a separate question from whether it caused the event.

System / software version

Not identified in the available sources.

Causal attribution

Undetermined

The available evidence does not establish a cause. Involvement of a driving-automation system is not the same as its being a cause.

What remains unknown

• The separation distance / time-to-conflict.
• The wrong-way vehicle's speed.

Interpretation

No interpretation is offered for this event.

Sources & evidence

The sources below are the evidence. The summary and any interpretation on this page are written by White Box Autonomy and are not themselves evidence.

1. X post · reed

   https://x.com/reed/status/2061887397634453524

   Legacy text: 'a 10-second split-view video from Phoenix'. Poster described as a Waymo engineer.

About this record

Review status: Curator-reviewed. What the review statuses mean.

Record last reviewed or updated: 1 September 2026.

To report an error or raise a concern about this record, contact zuduo.zheng@uq.edu.au.