Waymo Test Vehicle Crashes in LA After Manual Driving Failure, Narrowly Avoids Casualties

Around 11 a.m. on January 25, a Waymo test vehicle lost control in the 1200 block of Lilac Avenue near Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, veered onto a roadside embankment, and collided with multiple parked cars—nearly striking nearby residents. Witness Jorge Donatoni said his mother and brother were at the scene; fortunately, his brother quickly pushed their mother out of harm’s way, and neither was injured. Waymo responded that the vehicle was under manual control by a test engineer at the time of the incident, there were no passengers onboard, and no injuries occurred. The area, located close to Dodger Stadium, experiences heavy traffic during events and has previously seen other incidents involving Waymo vehicles. This crash was not caused by a failure of the autonomous driving system.