AUSTIN (KXAN) — Have you seen a robotaxi stop, but the road ahead is clear of obstacles? Over the last week, so did KXAN employees.
Between May 31 and June 3, multiple self-driving cars stopped on W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd in front of the KXAN station. The vehicles appeared to be hung up on a low-hanging tree branch.
But after several seconds, the car would enter the oncoming lane and pass the empty space. Human-driven cars navigated the branch without delay after the driverless cars moved.
When a situation like this happens, the vehicle is likely functioning as it should.
The cars, operated by robotaxi company Waymo, use a combination of radar and lidar to detect objects in front of and around them. A Waymo spokesperson told KXAN that the branch may have been low enough to enter